Another Boalt alumna defends John Dwyer and expresses her disgust at how the Boalt case has been handled by Jennifer Reisch, UC Berkeley administrators and faculty, and the media. She confirms the problematic role of alcohol in Boalt's academic culture, and offers some bracing thoughts on the relationship between accusations and accountability:

While I prefer to remain anonymous for professional reasons, as a Boalt alumna, I felt compelled to make this contribution to the discussion concerning John Dwyer. Dean Dwyer,as a professor and as the dean, provided me immeasurable support, direction, respect and kindness during my years at Boalt.

Undoubtedly, Dwyer is accountable for the nature and quality of his interactions with students. However, as I'm sure you're aware, in graduate-level education, the line between faculty and students blurs, and never appears as clear as it might have when 18 year-old freshmen are sent off to university by their trusting
parents. The evolution of that relationship is particularly evident in law school, which is more of a professional training camp than a purely academic setting.

In many ways, Boalt Hall encourages students and faculty to interact as colleagues, including clinical practice and journal participation, where students are increasingly treated as peers, in terms of scholarship and professionalism. This is further evidenced by the degree to which law students strive to achieve
professional recognition. Reisch seems to have wasted no time in doing so, judging by what is a resume overflowing with participation in political and legal activities since her undergrad days.

Also, student-faculty interactions easily synthesize both professional and social "responsibilities," as law students are assimilated into a calling that undeniably relies on socializing to a high degree, creating an almost "secret handshake" kind of club.
In my first semester at Boalt Hall, a civil procedure professor made clear that part of his responsibility was to convey the importance of and the degree to which "cocktail party" behavior could be an influence on the course of your legal career. And as mentioned on your site previously, Boalt's social events, attracting students and faculty alike, often involve alcohol.

Former Dean Dwyer now suffers the ultimate negative consequence of what he admits was inappropriate "cocktail party" behavior - excommunication from not just his livelihood, but from a community that was his life. However, the question remains, how did Reisch get a free pass here at Dwyer's expense, considering the strong likelihood her own drinking impaired her
ability to recall the events of that night accurately? Did she not also have a responsibility to avoid the situation in which she found herself, as a professional in training and simply as an adult? If the answer is no, it becomes difficult to view the ultimate resolution of this conflict as anything other than the man being held responsible by default, regardless of how the two of them ended up in her apartment, on her bed, once they both had too much to drink.

While Reisch mistakenly thinks her success in removing Dean Dwyer from his position stands as a victory empowering women (not withstanding her delayed timing that, under her version of events, left all female Boalt students at risk), instead, she has reinforced the image of women as helpless and forever at the mercy of men, too weak to take any responsibility in their careers for their own "cocktail party" behavior.

The University granted Reisch unfettered power to anonymously destroy the academic career of a caring, committed, not just hard-working, but driven and dedicated servant of the Boalt Hall community and the legal profession. What a tragedy for Boalt to lose him. Reisch has taken no responsibility, while Dwyer, forced to assume all responsibilty, pays a price far out of proportion, exacted not only for his own lack of judgment, but for hers as well, which she apparently will never be called upon to acknowledge.