Gay, Law Schools, Lesbians

NYU Students Should 'Tag' Their Resumes, Not Their Hallways

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NYU Law School seems to have a problem with graffiti. Hate graffiti. Last year, NYU had to bring in the NYPD hate crimes task force to deal with somebody who scrawled “damn orthodox jews” in the main NYU Law building.

This year, there’s been another incident of hateful graffiti at the law school. Honestly, I don’t know why the kids can’t keep this stuff on the 6 train where it belongs. Or maybe they should be tagging up some phat outlines instead of defacing their school.

Apparently this graffiti was anti-gay and directed at one specific student….

The offensive graffiti was found at NYU’s Furman Hall. NYU Law Dean Richard Revesz sent out a letter to the entire law school community:

As some of you know, on Monday afternoon a student informed NYU Public Safety about offensive graffiti in Furman. An officer arrived promptly to investigate the situation. The graffiti contained an anti-LGBT epithet directed at a member of our community. Such hateful conduct is deplorable and has no place here. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.

The epithet has no place at NYU Law? None? What, did the graffiti compare having anal sex to “shoving a straw up your nose to drink”?

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(Sorry, it just seems a bit hypocritical to freak out about some graffiti when you are the same school that invited Dr. Li-ann Thio to come teach.)

Anyway, Dean Revesz went on to explain how NYU Law would be dealing with this situation:

After learning of this incident, I reached out to the individual targeted by the graffiti to express outrage and to offer support. I am now working with NYU Public Safety and the NYPD to identify the person or persons responsible. I have also instructed our security and maintenance teams to be especially alert to future incidents of this kind.

I am issuing this statement to give our community the relevant information, to underscore that we have no tolerance for such heinous actions, and to ask that we all be vigilant and immediately report any incidents of this sort. I am proud that NYU Law School has long been a place of extraordinary tolerance, where people from diverse backgrounds and with different viewpoints exchange ideas vigorously but with mutual respect. I remain unshaken in my belief that the Law School continues to be such a place.

As we move forward into the heart of the academic year, this unfortunate incident presents an opportunity to reflect on and reiterate our commitment to maintaining such an environment. I hope that educational events such as the OUTLaw Symposium on Transgender Justice on Friday, November 4th, will shed light on transgender rights and promote constructive and thoughtful dialogue around these issues. More broadly, I hope we can affirm the dignity of each member of our community in our daily actions and unite around the belief that a dignitary affront to any member of our community diminishes us all.

Obviously, tagging the law school with a gay slur is wrong and stupid. It’s also just intellectually weak, right? Aren’t there tons of ways that you can run around a law school these days insulting gays and lesbians and yet claim protection under the “vigorous exchange of ideas” doctrine?

How freaking dumb are you if you can’t avail yourself of such accepted forms of intolerance that you find yourself reduced to scrawling crap on a hallway? Did this guy use a writing implement or did he just hurl feces at the wall and swirl it around?

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Anti-gay graffiti. Man. Weak sauce. I’m sure NYU Law can do better.

Earlier: Anti-Semitism and the Sun God Ra Afflict New York Area Law Schools
NYU Professor of Human Rights: Not a Fan of Gay Rights?

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