In an Aug. 15, 2013, letter to Brian Graff, Executive Director/CEO of ASPPA and NAPA, Robert C. Post, Dean of Yale Law School, distanced Yale University and Yale Law School from Prof. Ian Ayres’ 401(k) plan fees research and Ayres’ related letters to plan sponsors. Dean Post states that, “the letters you have reviewed from Professor Ayres neither represent, or purport to represent, the views of Yale University or Yale Law School. Any statements made in the letters are not made by, or on behalf of, Yale University or Yale Law School. The letters represent the independent research of Professor Ayres.”
Dean Post also declined Graff’s invitation to discuss the situation face to face. “Faculty possess academic freedom to pursue their own research,” Post wrote. “We therefore cannot either endorse or repudiate Professor Ayres’ research. Nor can we in any way interfere with Professor Ayres’ research. For that reason I do not believe that we would have anything to gain from a meeting.”
Finally, Dean Post encouraged ASPPA and NAPA to “engage in whatever public debate with Professor Ayres you feel is appropriate. In the world of scholarship, Professor Ayres’ work will ultimately be judged on its merits…”
Indeed, it will.
Ronald J. Triche, Esq., APM, is ASPPA’s Assistant General Counsel and Director of Government Affairs.
