Kiwi Camara: We Are Still Confused
We recently blogged about Kiwi Camara -- the young, brilliant, controversial legal scholar -- and his mysteriously disappeared job offer from George Mason University School of Law. Camara is a legal Doogie Howser who was 16 when he entered Harvard Law School. At HLS, he caused an uproar after dropping the N-bomb in a group outline. He has apologized repeatedly and profusely for that mistake; but it continues to dog him, years later.
The Washington Post originally broke the story about Camara's GMU appointment falling through. But their story may have been erroneous, at least in one respect. The Post reported:
At George Mason's law school, the faculty had authorized [Dean Daniel] Polsby to hire Camara as an assistant professor, but the dean wanted to first see what students, alumni and others thought. He scheduled a town hall meeting for last night, but the meeting was nixed after Camara's application was withdrawn.
We contacted Camara for comment. He explained:
I was never instructed to withdraw my application, and I never did so. My candidacy was ended by George Mason...Also, there was a week's lapse between my job talk and when the faculty voted me an offer (to be precise, voted to authorize the dean to extend an offer). Surely they would have investigated before, rather than after, voting me an offer -- and especially before going public and thereby triggering the recent media coverage.
Indeed. This is all very strange.
More discussion, including an interesting mini-scoop from Camara, after the jump.
We contacted Camara to get his comment on one rumor that was going around. The rumor, which an anonymous tipster passed along to us, was that (1) Camara had misrepresented to Dean Dan Polsby that he had an offer from another school; (2) Dean Polsby, after investigating, found out this was not true; and (3) Dean Polsby then directed Camara to withdraw his application.
We contacted Dean Polsby, who declined to comment on L'Affaire Camara. But Camara, whom we also contacted, offered a pretty persuasive refutation of the rumor:
That is not true. As I told Inside Higher Ed, I have no offers from other law schools.I was not even a candidate anywhere else at the time George Mason was looking at me. I did not go on the AALS market this year, a fact that is verifiable by looking at the FAR. My candidacy at George Mason arose by word of mouth from a mutual friend, not through the normal application process.
So much for that gossip. More from Camara:
Another inaccuracy in your anonymous correspondent's account is that I was instructed to withdraw my application. I was never instructed to withdraw my application, and I never did so. My candidacy was ended by George Mason. The fact that your correspondent says that I withdrew my application suggests that his or her only actual source is the Washington Post story, which incorrectly reported that I withdrew my application.
Of course, we remain in the dark about what REALLY happened here. Neither Polsby nor Camara explained these events to us. The Inside Higher Ed piece referenced by Camara has some good background, but it also doesn't nail down what transpired:
[A]fter hearing that Camara was no longer a candidate to join the faculty, many assumed it was the skeletons in his closet, or, as some have contended, the youthful indiscretions that should have been forgiven long ago. But Polsby specifically noted in his e-mail to students that Camara was “no longer a candidate” for reasons “separate from those that prompted me to call the meeting.” [A] member of the faculty confirmed that it was an unrelated issue that arose after the original announcement, ending the hiring process.What that issue might be is not known, although there has been speculation about unspecified political pressure. Faculty proceedings are confidential, and Camara would not say who ended the proceedings. Unlike some law schools, which require a supermajority, the faculty votes by simple majority to give the dean the authority to make an offer. Once that was done, it was Polsby’s decision to go directly to the student body.
The incident has already sparked discussion online. Faculty members at GMU Law were hesitant to describe their reactions to the incident, but opinions are reportedly mixed among both students and faculty. If some were disappointed at how the proceedings ended, they weren’t alone: Camara himself said he was dismayed by the outcome. “Yes, I was surprised. ... I was really impressed by the faculty there. I had the feeling of what you might imagine the University of Chicago was like 30 or 40 years ago” for economics — “everybody focused on ideas.”
We have been slightly snarky in our past coverage of Camaragate. But on a serious note, we do think it's unfair that Kiwi Camara, who is by all accounts a talented and prolific scholar, can't get past one stupid thing he did as a teeanger -- for which he has profusely apologized, again and again.
It may be a cliche, but it rings true: Everyone deserves a second chance. How many years must elapse before Camara will be deemed sufficiently "rehabilitated" by the legal academy?
(We realize that Camara's GMU appointment was apparently scuttled for a reason unrelated to the HLS incident. But it is certainly true that Camara will be forever associated with that incident -- and that many other schools, less conservative than GMU, would probably not hire him based on that one event.)
Finally, here's an interesting tidbit that Camara shared, which we haven't seen reported elsewhere previously:
Some news that you might be interested in is that I am now planning to write a book, telling my story and reflecting on some broader themes that it raises.
Exciting! We look forward to it; we think it will be a VERY interesting work.
And we think it's smart that Camara is taking an unfortunate incident from his past -- one that continues to haunt him, despite having taken place many years ago, when he was basically a kid -- and trying to turn it into something positive. It's a fine example of taking the proverbial lemons and making lemonade -- or turning calamansi into (delicious) calamansi juice, as a good Filipino-American like Camara would do.
Words He Can’t Escape [Inside Higher Ed]
Racist Writing as a Teen Haunted GMU Candidate [Washington Post]
K.A.D. Camara [official website]
Kiwi Camara [Wikipedia]
(42) Comments
If N-bomb-gate shouldn't count against him because he was a teenager when it happened, then the law degree he earned as a teenager shouldn't count either.
Who says his candidacy was terminated because of the HLS incident? Is it possible that there is another reason?
" . . . we do think it's unfair that Kiwi Camara, who is by all accounts a talented and prolific scholar, can't get past one stupid thing he did as a teeanger -- for which he has profusely apologized, again and again."
What was that stupid thing? For us noobs.
Where have you read that Camara apologized repeatedly and profusely? You provide no link to such apologies. All I have seen from Camara are half-hearted pseudo-apologies. And then you see him on a video saying "Whhaaaasssssup." This guy is really tone deaf.
Simply put, Camara is not being punished for what he did when he was 16. He is being punished because his behavior demonstrates that he fails to realize what he did was wrong.
It's in the Inside Higher Ed piece that is linked to:
"Camara has repeatedly apologized in the years since. “I realize it was a serious mistake on my part, and I’ve apologized for it many times,” he said."
Re 2.37 pm - He included the abbreviation "Nig" to stand for African-American in an outline he made for a class his 1L year at HLS (when he was 16). He then allowed the outline to be distributed to classmates with a note explaining that he'd used the abbreviation, but meant no offense by it.
Someone who really believed that people should be allowed to move on past "unfortunate incidents in their past" would not be writing an internet gossip blog...
2:49, I don't understand. Instead of attaching a note, why didn't he just edit that out before distributing it? Why distribute it at all?
There was all kinds of stuff going around about "Dougie Howser JD" during his 1L year.
One thing I recall was that he'd claimed to someone that he graduated from Princeton, which was not true (a Princeton kid on my floor went to some lengths to prove this, including checking alumni databases, etc.).
Smart guy, obviously, but the story was he was also an immature/insecure 16-year-old...
Re 2.57pm - I have no idea. That's what a closet racist would do, but apparently not a 16-year-old wunderkind. (An overt racist would have used the whole N-word unapologetically, right?)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but in his "repeated apologies" I believe he also refused to rule out the prospect that he would continue to use racial slurs in the future. To me, that's the real problem. If someone actually thinks what they've done is wrong, they don't say "sorry, althought I may very well do this again." That's pretty weak.
Kiwi's nig incident just shows how out of touch with reality he really is, and this is why he doesn't deserve to be a law professor.
No worries though, that racist piece of shit won't have any trouble finding other lucrative forms of employment. But I'll be damned if he's ever in the position of educating law students, some of whom will probably fall under his category of "nig".
Perhaps he could find a position at Regent University, where his racial intolerance might be disregarded, or more likely, celebrated.
So much for the First Amendment.
Here's one way that Kiwi "apologized": ""I avoid the word strenuously in public conversation." That's not an apology, and it leaves open the possibility that he will use the epithet in private.
No one should hire this guy.
The First Amendment is very much alive, and Mr. Camara may say as he pleases. People may choose not to hire him for his choice of speech, and I can choose to say some people can be utterly brilliant and perfectly moronic at the same time.
He also said using the word was a "miscalculation." Is that what passes as a profuse apology with you, Lat?
Funny, I was at a mediocre public high school when I was 16 and still had the good sense not to do such a thing. He has shitty judgment and is being held to task for it. What's the outrage in that?
Does anyone know if Kiwi was down with WGWAG?
“We are entitled to be free from having to wonder whether our grades are the result of our substantive analysis or the color of our skin.”
grading is blind
3:06,
You imply that to be a law professor, you must be in touch with reality... I think there are a few HLS professors who are out of touch with reality...Duncan Hunter.
Seriously, Camara said a stupid thing when he was 16 years old. 16! Tocqueville was right when he observed that the societal restraints on freedom of thought in America are more intense than those imposed during the Spanish Inquisition. I think we all would do good to get over ourselves and our false sense of moral superiority.
I agree with 3.17. When I was 16, I might have struggled to fully understand Shelley v. Kraemer but I sure as hell would have known better than to refer to the plaintiffs by the n-word.
Conservatives were recently execrating the Supreme Court for holding that juveniles could not be executed for crimes committed at 16. Yet they think Kiwi should not be held accountable for his little juvenile indiscretion.
Until the guy issues a sincere apology (which he hasn't - see other comments above) then he shouldn't be teaching. This has nothing to do with free speech - I'll defend the twerp's right to be a racist but I'd never advocate hiring him.
I would actually feel a lot more sympathetic towards Kiwi if he *accidentally* left the "nig" language in his outline. Then perhaps the "oh he was just a stupid teenager" defense would apply.
But that fact is that he was fully aware of his use of "nig", fully aware that it could upset people. He could have very well removed the language in about 2 seconds, but he took more time to write up some bullshit 'disclaimer' which he actually thought would absolve him from appearing like a total jackass?
hell to the no.
"Kiwi's nig incident just shows how out of touch with reality he really is, and this is why he doesn't deserve to be a law professor."
I have yet to meet a law professor who is in touch with reality.
Why can't anyone remember that this only happened a few years ago. He isn't being held accountable for something he said 30 years ago.
Besides all that, I'm with 3:14. Some people only want the First Amendment to apply to Camara's statement, when its clear that his detractors are just as entitled.
Some people likely don't want/need an apology, they just don't want to be around someone with such bad judgement. This kid should duck his head and find some good work to do. He set this table, and now has to enjoy the meal.
Can't he be the US Attorney for Minnesota? Or be Monica Goodling's replacement?
Our fabulous host's coverage of Camara is likely influenced by his own experience after he wrote these words in the Harvard Crimson:
"National Coming Out Day is just another event in the recent rash of identity-based pride rallies. These alleged celebrations of diversity have devolved into mutual masturbation festivals. They reassure people who are still deeply troubled by their lifestyle choices and are desperately seeking a stamp of approval. We have a duty to deny them this approval."
No nig tenure.
Kiwi. Heh. Given the photo above, his last name should be "Fruit."
At this point, the decision to hire or publish this guy is influenced by the certain knowledge that it will cause a public relations controversy. The dissent from his inclusion in the Yale symposium is one example, this blog thread is another. Why would a rational school or review take on that firestorm for someone who, if he is actually a prodigy, is showing Bobby Fisher tendencies?
He could have search-replaced the word in one tenth the time it took to attach a note explaining it.
We are talking about someone who got to HLS on the publicity train in the first place. Perhaps racism can be our filter for which half of the HLS class gets prof. jobs and which has to settle for $200K firm jobs.
Your post is right, 7:10. No matter the degree of intelligence (this guy is obviously quite bright), racism, or even the hint of it, is a decent filter for who we want teaching future legal minds.
From all the comments, it seems we're all convinced that we ourselves haven't ever had a racist thought, or a racist moment. I'd like to find someone that has never had a disparaging thought about another person of another race or nationality. I find many of our comments a bit self-righteous and full of hubris.
Ok, look. I get that he was 16. But he a) used "nig" as an abbreviation; b) posted it online in an outline, c) made a note to the effect that people who don't like racism shouldn't use his notes, and d) has never really apologized, other than to say "I have apologized a bunch."
I mean, what's he done, exactly, to show he's matured? He should try to combat racism for a few years and reapply.
Law schools are service industries. Why is this kid, at age TWENTY TWO, owed a job as a law prof?
And there's a world of difference between having a fleeting racist thought, and realizing "shit, that was a racist thing to think," and going to the deliberate lengths this kid did.
If i was this kid, i'd go teach in africa, or work for the ACLU for a few years or something. Humble himself and eventually be like "I was a stupid kid, and I've learned." Put that massive brain into the service of helping people with different color skin, and write an Op Ed piece on it in two or three years. It's not all about seizing the next shiny brass rings and "i wanna be a law prof!!!"
What this little "genius" should do is write an essay explaining what the fuck he was thinking, and why he does not (or does?) think that anymore.
less whining, more writing, kiwi.
You know, if he, say, spray painted the n word on a wall at his high school, I could *maybe* chalk that up to youthful moronics.
But when you are LEARNING about this country's HISTORY of horrific discrimination on the basis of color, and you are putting the n word in your notes? And sharing it with your class?
What is the explanation for that? I mean, at least Michael Richards and Imus were *attempting* however horribly/caustically, to be humorous. So they can argue that they aren't racist, but merely told a racist joke.
But what is the explanation for his use of the nword? Never mind the apology - did he ever answer "why?" Was it a prank? Or did he just hate black people at the time?
Re 10.39 pm - Great point. I hadn't thought about it that way. You are right. Genius or not, the guy is a moron.
This reminds me of an encounter I had with a biglaw recruiter. I stalked her for weeks so I could set up an "accidental" run-in. So there I am at her Starbucks, coincidentally wearing a suit and holding copies of my resume, when I say hi to her.
We're chatting it up and I feel like I have a chance. She even offered to arrange an interview. But it wasn't to last. She figured out who I was and asked me for a pen, with which she wrote on my forehead:
""Law student gets interview with no tier1 degree; interview agreement Enforceable?"
Kiwi is big fat racist piece of excrement.
Tough shit Kiwi - you failed - accept it and move on.
I met him early in 1L year, and he also told me he went to Princeton and studied computer science there. He did not mention his age, and at 16 he easily looked like he could have been 22.
This was 5 years ago so my memory is a bit hazy, but I did not realize that he told other people he went to undergrad there.
What I seem to remember him saying is that he went there for a masters in computer science. He did not specifically say he graduated. So even after learning more about him, including his undergrad degree from a Hawaii college, I assumed that he was telling the truth about grad school at Princeton, but that he dropped out.
After hearing this, I guess he was lying to me too about going to Princeton. A google of Princeton and Kiwi Camara shows nothing, nor is it mentioned on his resume.
Strange stuff.
He is definately lying about the reason he dropped out of the Stanford PhD program. A lack of serious students of law and economics?!?!?!?
H0w about this guy? http://www.law.stanford.edu/directory/profile/48/A.%20Mitchell%20Polinsky/
Or this guy?
http://www.law.stanford.edu/directory/profile/35/Michael%20Klausner/
Or this guy?
http://www.law.stanford.edu/directory/profile/16/Robert%20M.%20Daines/
There is a story here to be uncovered! Why did Camara really leave the Stanford PhD program?
More Kiwi anecdotes:
He wore a suit every day to class.
He said stupid things, was a gunner and a suck-up, and very very loudly laughed whenever a professor cracked the most minor joke.
He created a personal webpage that included weirdly pretentious fashion advice, such as his favorite tailors in Seville Row and the number of suits "a gentleman requires to travel within elevated social circles"
As soon as you went to the site you were greeted an auto-loading sound file of him singing a song he wrote about how wonderful the common law is. Everyone got forwarded the link, along with Nesson's stoned out rants from his evidence class page.
He was a member of the Harvard-wide ballroom dance club, and had some dispute over the rules of the club with other officers, emails from which he posted to his site.
Daniel Polsby is a complete idiot.