Stanford Law School’s president is now vowing to protect free speech after a woke mob loudly protested when Trump-appointed judge Kyle Duncan was invited to the school to speak at the Stanford Law’s Federalist Society. The fuming mob was joined by the school’s dean of equity, Tirien Steinbach, who took the opportunity to essentially condemn Duncan’s career.
Marc Tessier-Lavigne apparently sent Duncan a personal apology after the debacle, going on to promise that there would be “new initiatives to safeguard and strengthen” freedom of speech on the college campus, according to the Daily Mail.
But apparently it was only after the demise of free speech in the law school appeared to have an impact on the value of Stanford's law degrees. Federal judges have vowed not to hire Stanford law students as clerks following the outlandish event. Tessier-Lavigne noted that the incident was “deeply disappointing” and that he believed the school must work to “reject such corrosive conduct.”
As a consequence of the event, a group of Stanford law students published a piece in The Stanford Review entitled “Fire Tirien Steinbach.” The piece stated: “Steinbach stated her supposed commitment to free speech: ‘Me and many people in this administration do absolutely believe in free speech,’ (note how she said many people and not all people, perhaps a Freudian slip), ‘We believe that it is necessary. We believe that the way to address speech that feels abhorrent, that feels harmful, that literally denies the humanity of people—that one way to do that is with more speech and not less. And not to shut you down or censor you.’”
The students continued: “Yet Steinbach did censor Judge Duncan. She even sympathized with the movement to end free speech on campus—protected by the First Amendment and the Leonard Law, something one would expect a Law School Dean to know…”
Consequently, Tessier-Lavigne wrote in his letter: “We all navigate disagreements and differences with the people that we live and work with every day. As members of a university community, we are called on to extend our empathy beyond our close personal relationships – to see one another as people with complexity, not as partisan types.”
He apparently promised that incoming freshman students would be provided workshops on how to effectively navigate disagreements that they may have with others over contentious issues.
“We must continue building understanding and active dialogue about both the opportunities and the expectations of being members of this community, including shared commitments to both free expression and to dignity and integrity in our interactions.”
Last month, Steinbach was reported to have been put on leave from Stanford University. There is currently no update on when she might return, or if she will.
