Law Schools

ASSLaw President Struggles To Defend Name Change

Gotta do better than that after naming yourself ASS Law.

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Antonin Scalia seatedLast week, the George Mason University Faculty Senate voted to reopen the naming process that proposes to create ASSLaw (or ASSoL, if you prefer), aka the Antonin Scalia School of Law. Sure, the administration, in a fit of damage control, tried to turn back time and rechristen it the Antonin Scalia Law School, but it was too late. It was a predictable move for concerned school leaders, worried not only that their university just invited a lifetime of scatological humor, but that it’s chosen to tie its fortunes to a polarizing ideologue.

After all, George Mason University is Virginia’s largest public research university, and the deal on the table contemplates naming the law school of this diverse institution after a guy who said black students should attend “lesser schools where they do not feel that they’re — that they’re being pushed ahead in — in classes that are too — too fast for them.”

Taken at its most charitable, that says some bad things about George Mason University.

We noted that GMU President Ángel Cabrera (not the Masters champion) is striking back against allegations that the school is too beholden to the whims of private donors. Reviewing the letter he drafted to the Faculty Senate, it’s clear he had his work cut out for him:

Agreement with his views is, however, not the reason why we are renaming the law school for Justice Scalia. We are not endorsing his opinions on any specific issue. We are recognizing a man who served our country at the highest level of government for 30 years and who many experts of diverse ideological persuasions—from faculty colleagues in our law school, to his peers on the Supreme Court, to the president of the United States—consider to have been a great jurist who had a profound impact in the legal field.

Roger Taney served our country at the highest level of government for 28 years and had a profound impact in the legal field, but no one’s rushing to name a school after him. Not to suggest that Justice Scalia and the former Chief Justice are two peas in a pod, but this highlights the ludicrous effort to pass off “we don’t even consider the content of his opinions… we’re doing this because of his service.” Cabrera can proclaim that the school’s not taking an ideological stance here until he’s blue in the face, but it doesn’t matter because the private donors who bought the naming rights sure as hell intend the school to project an ideological endorsement. They didn’t pick a name at random off a list of long-serving justices — they want an endorsement of Scalia’s jurisprudence, and the school is officially sanctioning one.

Earlier this year we were the target of intense criticism for opinions expressed by some of our faculty in the area of climate change prevention. Some colleagues at the time suggested that I publicly condemn those views and distance the university from them. My position then was clear and has not changed: we must ensure that George Mason University remains an example of diversity of thought, a place where multiple perspectives can be dissected, confronted, and debated for the benefit and progress of society at large. Rejecting a major naming gift in honor of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice on the basis that some of us disagree with some of his opinions would be inconsistent with our values of diversity and freedom of thought.

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Pure applesauce. Are you even listening to yourself? Allowing individual professors to pursue divergent research interests and espouse their findings without condemnation is absolutely in no way analogous to the institution renaming a school in honor of a polarizing figure at the behest of wealthy donors. To even compare the two cases makes one wonder if Cabrera actually grasps what this academic freedom thing is all about.

As per the perception that one donor may unduly influence the academic life of this university, let me offer some context. Indeed, with the continuous decline in public funding, philanthropy plays an increasingly important role for public universities, as it has always been for private ones. However, compared to our research university peers, philanthropy is still a very small percentage of our budget. In fiscal year 2017, all forms of philanthropy will account for almost 5 percent of our $920 million budget. Four years ago when I arrived at Mason, philanthropy provided 3 percent of our $730 million budget.

As the naming rights donation amounts to a mere $30 million, this is supposed to dispel the concern that the school is beholden to that donor with all the other money floating around the GMU system. Except, it inadvertently reaffirms the worry that the school has an ideological dog in the hunt. If the school didn’t need that $30 million, then it sold out its own name for a frighteningly cheap amount. Almost like they secretly wanted to rename themselves after this guy all along. So much for “We are not endorsing his opinions on any specific issue.” Or perhaps that was just cagey phrasing for “We are endorsing his opinions generally.”

Even if they sold out cheap, Cabrera passionately defends the importance of using the money to fund scholarships and a new program to improve diversity — going after those students needy for a “lesser school,” apparently — but it’s all mere fluff. Schools can always use more resources for something positive, but to assume that transforming the school into a vanity billboard for right-wing donors is really the best way to do it…?

You know what they say about when you assume? You make an ASS out of an ABA-accredited law school.

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(Read the whole letter on the next page…)

Earlier: #ASSLaw At George Mason Attempts Re-Brand, Will Fail
George Mason Law Changing Name To Antonin Scalia School Of Law
Antonin Scalia Is So Racist He Probably Still Thinks Pluto Is A Planet
Scientists Agree: Justice Scalia Is A Racist Idiot

Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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