Faculty fought against litigation

Re “UC Irvine plans to drop its lawsuit seeking French philosopher’s papers,” Feb. 14

I was one of a small group of UC Irvine professors who met a few weeks ago with a member of the central administration to argue that it was not only the right thing to do but also in the best interests of the university to withdraw the lawsuit filed against the family of Jacques Derrida. We were pleased the university responded positively to our request. The faculty at UCI was never consulted before the university filed its lawsuit and, had it been informed, would have worked to convince the librarians and administrators involved not to proceed for sound professional reasons.

The faculty learned about the lawsuit by chance only about a month ago, at which time a group of us immediately took action to oppose it.

We are pleased that amicable discussions are again occurring and that the invaluable resource Derrida so generously gave to UCI will continue to be available to us and scholars from across the country and throughout the world.

DAVID CARROLL

Professor of French

UC Irvine