Controversial conservative legal scholar John Eastman, who brought his buddy and Bush torture memo author John Yoo to Orange County to teach law last year, is stepping down as dean of Chapman University's law school to run for California attorney general.
That makes Eastman the second Orange County Republican to officially seek the post, as state Sen. Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach) has also thrown his hat in the ring for AG.
“John has been a very important dean in the history of our School of Law,” Chapman Chancellor Danielle Struppa states in a statement issued by the private Orange university. “In the last three years, he has significantly strengthened the scholarly output of the school, as well as the profile of its students.”
She wished Eastman “well in the forthcoming race, I know we will all miss his leadership and his energy.”
Eastman goes into his reasons for stepping down in the email to students and alumni after the jump . . .
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Earlier today I met with the Chancellor and the Law School Faculty
and staff to announce that I will be stepping down as Dean, effective
Monday. As you may have heard, I have been receiving a great deal of
encouragement to consider a bid for Attorney General of California, and
have decided to move forward with that endeavor. I do so with mixed
feelings, I must say. On the one hand, it is an exciting undertaking
for me and my family, one that will, if successful, allow me to bring
my particular constitutional expertise to bear in helping solve some of
the many problems our state currently faces.
On the other hand, I will certainly miss my daily interactions with
one of the most fun, most congenial, and most hard-working student
bodies in higher legal education today. What we have accomplished
together over the past three years has been nothing short of
spectacular–not just the rise in our rankings, but the continued
commitment to a school where “best quality of life” means a lot more
than palm trees in front. Mentoring relationships with a world-class
faculty and the development of life-long friendships with your
classmates make Chapman a very unique place.
Although I am stepping down, I will remain a member of the faculty, so I hope to see you on occasion.
One great concern of mine is that we not lose ground during the
transition to the next Dean of the Law School, and on that score, I am
delighted to report that former Associate Dean Scott Howe has agreed to
step in as Interim Dean. As many of you know, Professor Howe has been
with the law school almost since the beginning, and served as
Associate Dean under Dean Emeritus Parham Williams for eight years. He
is a highly accomplished scholar, an indefatigable administrator, and
perhaps most importantly, has the full respect and confidence of the
Law School faculty and staff. Please give him every courtesy and
assistance that you can.
Thank you again for your ongoing and enthusiastic support of Chapman
University School of Law. For those of you interested in following my
efforts on the campaign trail, you can visit http://www.eastmanforag.com.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.