Legal News

Spat Over Obama?s Tenure Gets Truly Academic

By Dan Slater

Jodi Kantor’s NYT profile of Barack Obama’s teaching years at U. of Chicago law has generated quite a bit of buzz in the legal community. Yesterday, we mentioned a post by Professor David Bernstein (George Mason law) at the Volokh Conspiracy blog, in which Bernstein expresses surprise over Kantor’s claim that Obama had in fact been offered tenure by Chicago Dean Dan Fischel after his failed congressional run in 2000.

Barack Obama teaching at the University of Chicago Law School. (AP Photo/Obama for America)

Then, last night, Jim Lindgren, another Volokh voice (how many are there?), posted the results of his own reporting into the Obama tenure matter. Lindgren, a Northwestern law prof, said he spoke with seven members of the Chicago faculty, “including several of the most powerful members of the faculty in the 1998-2003 period.” Lingren says none of the seven were consulted about an Obama tenured offer, and “some of them couldn’t believe that anyone would even attempt such a move, since it would have been a ‘nonstarter.’”

Then, in response to reader questions, Kantor herself — the author of the NYT article — clarified the tenure issue, writing on the NYT’s Caucus blog:

Several readers have asked questions about Mr. Obama’s status at the school. Let me clarify . . .When the law school tried to hire Mr. Obama after his failed 2000 congressional race, it was for a tenured job, according to Daniel Fischel, the dean at the time. In our interview, I asked him if he meant “tenure-track,” and he said no. “He would be hired as a tenured professor,” he explained. The faculty would vote, but Mr. Obama already had their support, he added.

Frankly, we find this question of academic tenure to be a bit, well, academic. Of significantly more interest are six of Obama’s final exams that the NYT has posted here (scroll all the way down), along with two answer memos.

Take a look, Law Blog Readers: Would you want to face down a Professor Obama final?

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 31, 2008 (boomark / email).