News/Commentary

Stanford law goes off the rails as students line halls dressed in black masks after dean’s apology

March 15, 2023 | | Print Article

Activist outrage escalated to new heights on the campus of Stanford Law School as students put on a menacing display following their dean’s apology to a slighted guest speaker.

Those most likely to have a “coexist” bumper sticker seemed hellbent on hypocrisy Monday as hundreds were reported to line the halls in protest of Stanford Law School Dean Jenny Martinez.

Following a planned speaking event where U.S. Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan had been shouted down with the support of administrators, including the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Tirien Steinbach, Martinez had issued a formal apology, triggering ire and a black bloc reminiscent response.

Images shared by the Washington Free Beacon’s Aaron Sibarium showed the whiteboard in Martinez’s constitutional law classroom plastered with signs that read, “‘COUNTER-SPEECH’ IS FREE SPEECH” and “WE HAVE FREE SPEECH RIGHTS TOO” as well as copies of the dean’s apology to Duncan.

However, that was only part of their protest as the Beacon went on to report that “nearly a third of the law school” had “formed a human corridor” in the hall outside Martinez’s class where – dressed in black and donning face masks with the same “counter-speech” message –  they silently stared down the dean and any students who chosen to attend her class rather than their protest.

“They gave us weird looks if we didn’t wear black…It didn’t feel like the inclusive, belonging atmosphere that the DEI office claims to be creating,” first-year law student Luke Schumacher told the outlet. Of the 60 students enrolled in the constitutional law class, 50 were said to have participated in the protest.

Another said of the experience, “It was eerie,” and added, “The protesters were silent, staring from behind their masks at everyone who chose not to protest, including the dean.”

Martinez had written to Duncan after his scheduled talk hosted by The Federalist Society had been disrupted: “We are very clear with our students that, given our commitment to free expression, if there are speakers they disagree with, they are welcome to exercise their right to protest but not to disrupt the proceedings. Our disruption policy states that students are not allowed to ‘prevent the effective carrying out’ of a ‘public event’ whether by heckling or other forms of interruption.”

While some noted that the latest protest would have actually been a more acceptable approach to respond to Duncan’s campus appearance, supporters of the judge’s right to speak were equally determined to see accountability.

“If Stanford cares about free speech, it must fire any administrator who actively encourages these unruly actions against it,” some had written in an op-ed calling for the removal of Steinbach. “Someone who is so eager, at the behest of an unruly mob, to shut down free speech, which Stanford itself considers ‘a bedrock principle for the law school, the university, and a democratic society,’ has no place as a Stanford dean. She helped engineer chaos with her email before the event, delivered prepared remarks interrupting his speech, took the spotlight for herself, and has shown no remorse since.”

Schumacher noted to the Beacon, “We are creating a hostile environment at this law school…hostile for anyone who thinks an Article III judge should be able to speak without heckling.”

Joining in on renouncing what took place at Stanford, billionaire Elon Musk quote tweeted Sibarium’s post with the caption, “Parents don’t realize the Soviet level of indoctrination that their children are receiving in elite high schools & colleges!”

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Kevin Haggerty
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