534 Jacques Derrida 1984–2004
know what is going to happen to him, when what is going to happen
to him is dictated by the other.’^40 But had not Derrida himself fi nally
realized the Nietzschean dream of the philosopher-artist?
Shortly after Jacques and Marguerite returned from Italy, their old
friends David Carroll and Suzanne Gearhart came to dinner in Ris-
Orangis. When they arrived, Derrida was still in his offi ce, typing
detailed reports on the papers of the Irvine students that continued
to be sent to him, in spite of his illness, more than a year after his
last seminar. As David Carroll told me, ‘I don’t know anyone else
who would have taken the time, who would have made the eff ort, to
correct and comment on students’ essays in those conditions. He did
so unhesitatingly – it’s true he grumbled he bit – because it was his
duty, because it was part of his commitments.’^41
At dinner, one diffi cult subject was deliberately avoided: the
Dragan Kujundzic aff air, which for some months had been ser iously
aff ecting Derrida’s relations with the University of California,
Irvine. It had all begun in spring 2003, just after his last stay there. A
short while before, Irvine had adopted new regulations that totally
banned any intimate relations between professors and students, and
even between members of the university staff. A woman student,
whose fi nal dissertation was being supervised by Dragan Kujundzic,
had an aff air with him, then laid a complaint of sexual harassment.
The inquiry set up by the State of California concluded that there
was no reason for pursuing the legal case, but the University had in
spite of everything decided to terminate Kujundzic’s contract.
J. Hillis Miller continues the story:
I had several phone conversations with Jacques on this busi-
ness, which greatly preoccupied him. In the past, several
professors, starting with Paul de Man, had married former
women students of theirs, and the marriages had been happy
ones. The rules had changed, in a way that struck us as exces-
sive. Maybe Dragan had promised more to this young woman
than he should have done, but Americans tend too often to
confuse moralism and law. In this aff air, Derrida defended not
only a friend whom he felt was the victim of an injustice, but a
worker mistreated by his employer.^42At all events, on 25 July 2004, Derrida wrote a long letter to the
chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, Ralph J. Cicerone,
to express his surprise, his anxiety, and his indignation.
I will begin by making it unequivocally clear that I fully
approve the principles of all rules meant to prevent, or even to
repress, the kinds of behaviour defi ned in the United States as