Law Students Seek To Ban Professor From Teaching 1Ls

When two law professors wrote a dog whistle of an editorial, students stood up. And the students deserve everyone's support.

UPDATE (9/12/17 3:49 p.m.): USD’s dean has released a statement provided below.

A lot of people made up their minds about Professor Amy Wax of Penn Law and Professor Larry Alexander of USD Law long before they published their now-infamous editorial “Paying the price for breakdown of the country’s bourgeois culture,” an unapologetic paean to segregationist era America. But there are still those who haven’t drawn a line in the sand. People who might privately disdain the substance of the argument but can still envision some buzzword-worthy defense of the professors, be it “academic freedom” or “free speech,” or feel swayed by a deeply held belief that “this isn’t my problem” or a sense of “bothsides-ism” over out-of-control social justice warriors.

If you fall into this camp, take a moment to consider that you’re the victim of a long, calculated con game. Every aspect of this story is playing to a script written and rehearsed for decades, up to and including the part where you’re supposed to turn your backs on the people standing up for justice.

Try not to get played this time.

It all starts with Wax and Alexander peddling the narrative that they just don’t understand what all the hubbub is about. The first step in casting oneself as a victim of crazy extremists is a robust round of gaslighting. In a recent television interview, when asked about the reaction to the op-ed, Alexander claimed that he and Wax assumed all along that it would be dismissed as “so obvious you didn’t really need to say it.”

If you believe that one, I’ve got a bridge inexplicably still named after a Confederate general to sell you.

Law professors don’t write pieces they themselves find “banal,” and they certainly don’t collaborate with colleagues across the country to churn out op-eds they expect to be met with a shrug. Wax and Alexander walked into this with a clear set of expectations. There’d be some media uproar and the inevitable campus newspaper follow-up (where Wax would earnestly express her belief in the “superiority” of white culture). Then some fellow professors would probably pen an open letter denouncing that law professors would put the imprimatur of authority on easily debunked racist tropes. And some students would stand up in protest and demand action.

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But this is the “lather, rinse, repeat” of conservative campus activism — say something indefensible, await criticism, mock and bully those critics as “crazy” while trumpeting your own victimhood, and rely on the apathy and gullibility of others to rob those critics of momentum.

As if on cue, Tucker Carlson was right there to interview a genuinely shocked Alexander about the “social justice warriors” in a segment Carlson titled “Campus Craziness”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIcTktZBmH4

What did he say? “There were no allegations that anything we said was incorrect.”

Whether Alexander is just an inveterate liar or suffers from a total break with reality is unclear, but Occam’s Razor suggests the former. In fact, every critique of that editorial includes a rebuke of its aggressive lack of factual support. The USD Law BLSA statement debunks several of Wax and Alexander’s core claims. The critique in these pages went point-by-point through the miserable string of unsupported “factual” claims in the original essay, and we weren’t even trying to be thorough. But what Alexander’s interview lacks in sincerity it makes up for in propaganda value. Wax and Alexander don’t need the truth, they just need enough earnest truthiness to put the requisite doubt in the minds of a would-be neutral observer.

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The USD Law BLSA released a statement (available on the next page) calling for Alexander to no longer teach first-year courses:

The most alarming aspect of this entire situation is that both professors are charged with teaching future lawyers who will help shape the legal structure of society. Moreover, both teach mandatory first year law courses, whereby students are not allowed to make the decision to avoid professors whose personal ideas and agenda will invariably leak into their lectures. Those who romanticize an era of segregation and unequal rights are being disingenuous at best and racist at worst. Allowing them to teach fundamental courses will invariably promote a hostile learning environment that is a disservice to all students.

As reported by TaxProf Blog, the Penn Law NLG has issued a similar statement:

While we do not challenge Professor Wax’s right to express her views, we question whether it is appropriate for her to continue to teach a required first-year course. The Penn Law administration has long been aware that her bigoted views inevitably seep into her words and actions in the classroom and in private conversations with students. We call on the administration to consider more deeply the toll that this takes on students, particularly students of color and members of the LGBTQIA community, and to consider whether it is in the best interests of the school and its students for Professor Wax to continue to teach a required first-year class. Exposure to a diversity of viewpoints is an essential and valuable part of any educational experience, but no student should have to be exposed to bigotry or abuse in the classroom.

Everyone should support these students in this request. All the fallbacks to “freedom” that charlatans play up to marginalize their critics carry no weight here. The students aren’t seeking to silence the professors, they aren’t trying to rob them of tenure, and they aren’t taking any money out of their pockets. They only ask that no one be forced to take a course from professors who have made it clear that they’re openly hostile to people who don’t fit their brand of Mad Men fan fiction. Even if Wax and Alexander swear they don’t carry their retrograde beliefs into the classroom, the mere risk of bias against any student creates an unequal educational environment that warrants making this move in any event. Add in the fact that we’re talking about 1L courses that any number of faculty members could easily teach, and there’s absolutely no reason one can conjure up not to stand with the students on this one.

Up until now, everything has played out exactly as Wax and Alexander planned. Don’t let them win the third act.

UPDATE (9/12/17 3:49 p.m.): USD School of Law’s dean has penned a statement (click to enlarge):

Paying the price for breakdown of the country’s bourgeois culture. [Philly.com]
‘Not all cultures are created equal’ says Penn Law professor in op-ed [Daily Pennsylvanian]
Penn Law Students Try To Ban Amy Wax From Teaching Civil Procedure Due To Her Breakdown Of The Bourgeois Culture Op-Ed [TaxProf Blog]

Earlier: Law Professors Say White ’50s Culture Is Superior, Other Racist Stuff
Dog Whistling ‘Bourgeois Values’ Op-Ed Gets Thorough Takedown From Other Law Professors


HeadshotJoe 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.