White Berkeley Law dean tells class he illegally discriminates while hiring to boost diversity

Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky has been filmed suggesting to a class that he illegally discriminates against potential hires to boost racial diversity.

Chemerinsky is seen telling students how ‘unstated affirmative action’ can be achieved when a ‘college or university doesn’t tell anybody, doesn’t make any public statements’ about doing so.

‘I’ll give you an example from our law school, but if ever I’m deposed, I’m going to deny I said this to you,’ he continued. 

‘When we do faculty hiring, we’re quite conscious that diversity is important to us, and we say diversity is important, it’s fine to say that.’ 

The video filmed by Chemerinsky during a constitutional law class last spring semester was tweeted by critical race theory opponent Christopher Rufo on Thursday.

And it surfaced in the days following the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action in college admissions.

Affirmative action has been illegal in California – where Berkeley is based – since 1996, and the tablet screen visible on Chemerinsky’s desk suggests the clip is a recent one.  

Chemerinsky said that he is ‘very careful when we have a faculty appointments committee meeting, any time somebody says, ‘We should really prefer this candidate or this candidate because this person would add diversity’ – don’t say that! 

‘You can think it, you can vote it, but our discussions are not privileged, so don’t ever articulate that that’s what you’re doing.’

The law school dean said that is ‘easier for faculty hiring’ however less so for ‘student admissions’ because of ‘statistical measure.’

Proposition 209 is a California ballot proposition which, upon approval in November 1996, amended the state constitution.

Chemerinsky said that he’s ‘sad’ someone took a video in his class and ‘excerpted it in this way, adding ‘the Law School strictly complies with Proposition 209 in all of its hiring and admissions decisions’

It prohibits state governmental institutions from considering race, sex, or ethnicity, specifically in the areas of public employment, public contracting, and public education.

In 2020, the University of California supported a ballot initiative to repeal Prop 209 but state voters rejected the change 57 percent to 43 percent, meaning affirmative action remains illegal there. 

Chemerinsky told DailyMail.com that it was ‘not the entirety of his remarks.’

‘I record my classes for students who are not present,’ he said.

‘Someone accessed it and excerpted from a class. It was constitutional law and this past spring semester.

‘As per existing California law, the Berkeley Law School cannot and does not consider race in any of its hiring and admissions decisions. 

‘Those who were actually in the room and heard the entirety of my remarks, not one isolated portion, fully understood that.’

Twitter was in a frenzy following the video surfacing some slamming Chemerinsky as ‘Shockingly wrong’ for admitting he’d break the law for his political views.

‘He’s not only telling them that he’s breaking the law, he’s also announcing that he will commit perjury if he’s ever deposed on the question,’ said one user. 

Another said: ‘This is such a key point. Schools and businesses should be striving for diversity of perspective and of thought, not solely skin color and sexual preference.’

McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Princeton academic Robert P. George said the video revealed a ‘lack of diversity and viewpoint’ on faculty. 

‘What Dean Chemerinsky reveals here in the most glaring way is the lack of diversity–viewpoint diversity–on his faculty,’ he wrote. 

‘He can say to them what he reports saying to them when they are violating the law, *only* because he can count on them to share his ideological commitments.’