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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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Torture Lawyer Flees Berkeley Amid Protests

Law prof takes 1-year gig at OC's Chapman U.

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(Newser) – It can be hard to be a professor: publish or perish, sit on committees…dodge protesters? Just ask John Yoo, author of the memos that laid out and justified the harsh interrogation tactics used by the Bush administration. Yoo, a Berkeley law professor, has taken leave from his left-leaning professional home, where his presence is regularly protested, for the calmer Chapman University in Orange County, the LA Times reports.

Berkeley protests against Yoo included a billboard and a city council resolution branding him a war criminal. Yoo responds, “I would feel I wasn’t doing my job as an academic if I wasn’t writing or saying things that other people disagreed with.” Despite some small protests, Chapman seems mainly intrigued by Yoo’s celebrity. Says one student, “Any publicity's good publicity.”

UC Berkeley students walk by Sather Tower on the UC Berkeley campus April 17, 2007 in Berkeley, Calif.
UC Berkeley students walk by Sather Tower on the UC Berkeley campus April 17, 2007 in Berkeley, Calif.   (Getty Images)
A general view of the new state-of-the-art Marion Knott Studios, located at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University on February 10, 2007 in Orange, Calif.
A general view of the new state-of-the-art Marion Knott Studios, located at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University on February 10, 2007 in Orange, Calif.   (Getty Images)
John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 26, 2008.
John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 26, 2008.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
John Yoo protest flier
John Yoo protest flier   (©joebeone)
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I think it's a black eye to the school. . . . To me, he's a war criminal. - Michael Penn, Chapman alumnus

People obviously love having someone as accomplished as he is there. Since Chapman's relatively new, we're just getting our name more out there. . . . Any publicity's good publicity. - Roxana Amini, first-year at Chapman's law school

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9 comments
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lrm
Feb 11, 09 12:02 PM CST
What did you expect from Berkeley? The school is so close-minded to dissenting opinion that it acts like a crazed mob. Reply
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Doctor_Zaius
Feb 11, 09 12:08 PM CST
Yeah, imagine them being upset about torture. Go figure...
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IN RESPONSE:
JonmarkP
Feb 11, 09 4:35 PM CST
Did you mean "closed-minded' perhaps? Or maybe "clothes-minded"? Can't quite make sense of a comment about a school whose mind is close.
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Mad
Feb 11, 09 12:26 PM CST
Yoo should be ashamed to show his face in polite society. Berkeley has every right to set community standards. Damn shame O.C. has none... surprise Reply
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JonmarkP
Feb 11, 09 4:32 PM CST
Ironically, Orange is a mixture of Yellow and Red. Dissenting opinion has nothing to do with it - Yoo simply does not have the depth of knowledge to be teaching at Berkeley. An Orange County community college is exactly where he belongs. Reply
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