NYU Law School

Dr. Li-ann Thio: Much Ado About Nothing?

By

Thio Li Ann Visiting Professor NYU Law School.jpgOr close to nothing. That’s the likely enrollment in Human Rights Law in Asia, the course that Dr. Li-ann Thio, the visiting professor from Singapore with controversial views on gay rights, is scheduled to teach at NYU Law School this fall.
An NYU law student reports:

I think there’s a point everyone is missing about this story, and it is this:

We just had to submit our bids for fall courses. A grand total of five people applied for Dr. Thio’s class. It is totally going to get canceled. In comparison, Kenji Yoshino’s Con Law classes got 230 primary bids PER SECTION. NYU Law voted with its feet.

It’s not clear whether the student is referring to Human Rights Law in Asia (3 credits) or Constitutionalism in Asia (2 credits). Other sources tell us, however, that both courses are severely undersubscribed. NYU Law alumna Jill Filipovic, who over at Feministe expressed the hope that nobody would sign up for Dr. Thio’s classes, must be pleased.
(In case you’re not familiar with him, Kenji Yoshino is the openly gay law professor that NYU hired away from Yale last year. He is a leading scholar of gay rights and queer theory.)
Update: We now have greater clarity, from our original tipster:

She’s teaching 2 courses. Human Rights got 9 bids, 5 primary and 4 alternates, and Constitutionalism got 5 bids, just 1 primary and 4 alternates. The results of bidding will be available next week so we’ll know more about how many people actually end up in the class then. But I think it’s pretty safe to assume NYU is not going to run two seminars with just a handful of people in them.

We contacted the law school, to confirm the registration numbers and to see if Dr. Thio’s classes were in danger of being canceled.
Read their response, plus additional discussion, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Dr. Li-ann Thio: Much Ado About Nothing?”

Sign up for the Above the Law newsletter

Subscribe to our free daily email and get breaking news, commentary, and opinions on law firms, lawyers, law schools, lawsuits, judges, and more.

Dr. Li-ann Thio v. Random NYU Law IT Guy

By

Thio Li Ann Visiting Professor NYU Law School.jpgWhen last we checked in on the saga of Dr. Li-ann Thio, the incoming NYU Law visiting professor who equated anal sex to drinking by shoving a straw up your nose, Dean Richard Revesz was defending the invitation extended to her.
But over the weekend, an information technology professional who works for NYU law (and who is also an NYU student) asked the dean to reconsider. Here’s part of the letter from Malik Graves-Pryor:

While I can understand your position and reasoning in displaying solidarity to the larger NYU School of Law community regarding Hauser Global’s decision to bring in Professor Li-Ann Thio … I must state my strong objection to her appointment and the official NYU Law defense of said appointment.
As an African-American man working in the LawITS department, and simultaneously a student at NYU, I could never imagine the day would come when NYU would allow the appointment of a legal scholar who held the opinion that African-Americans practice acts of “gross indecency”, that African-Americans who strive for diversity should be rebuffed because “diversity is not a license for perversity”, describing the private intimate acts between African-Americans as trying to “shove a straw up your nose to drink”, among other intellectually and morally shallow absurdities.

In response, Dr. Thio unleashed an 18-point defense that she sent to the entire NYU Law faculty. Apparently, she feels unfairly maligned:

1. I am a little tired of the torrent of abuse and defamation that I have been receiving, and blatant emotive misrepresentations of my position. I was going to stay above the fray but given this insidious attack on my academic reputation (aside from many ad hominem insults), I feel I must cast some clarity on certain issues.

More fighting after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Dr. Li-ann Thio v. Random NYU Law IT Guy”

Dr. Li-ann Thio: The good professor speaks — and so does NYU Law School

By

Thio Li Ann Visiting Professor NYU Law School.jpgNYU Law gays, consider yourselves warned: Dr. Li-ann Thio is not afraid of you. The outspoken professor, who vehemently opposed decriminalizing gay sex as a member of the Singapore parliament, is ready to rumble:

We can be united in commitment to this principle [of academic freedom], without slavishly bowing to a demanded uniformity or dogma of political correctness set by elite diktat. I cannot say I am impressed by this ugly brand of politicking which I hope is not endemic….

I am disappointed at the intolerant animosity directed at me by strangers who do not know me and have decided to act on their own prejudices, forged from whatever sources, I am nonetheless glad that there are still some at NYU, who uphold a commitment to academic freedom and who entertain dissent with respect. As a recent NYU graduate, a Muslim friend of mine said, one must have courage in the face of bullying.

Dr. Thio can’t be prejudiced. Some of her best friends are Muslim!
Although her defense of the Singaporean statute against gay sex has been dismissed by one prominent American law professor as “dumb” and “embarrassing[],” Dr. Thio is not unaware of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in this area:

[C]ertain Americans have to realize the fact that there are a diversity of views on the subject and it is not a settled matter; there is no universal norm and it is nothing short of moral imperialism to suggest there is. Correct me if I am wrong, but there is no consensus on this even within the U.S. Supreme Court and American society at large, even post Lawrence v. Texas.

Dr. Thio is fighting political correctness with political correctness, accusing LGBT activists of cultural imperialism. Yikes! Find something to bite down on, kids, ’cause she’s not planning to use lube pull her punches.
Meanwhile, the NYU Law School administration has (finally) issued a public statement on L’Affaire Thio.
Read the statement, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Dr. Li-ann Thio: The good professor speaks — and so does NYU Law School”

Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 7.5: The Richest Guys in the Room

By

champagne glasses small.jpgLEWW often hears complaints about the elitism and snobbery of the NYT’s wedding coverage (and, by extension, our coverage of the coverage). “What about all the couples who didn’t meet at Harvard?” critics cry.
In response, we’d like to point you to this Vows column from mid-June. Roughly twice a year, the NYT covers the wedding of what it presumably considers “average Americans,” seeking thereby to demonstrate that its weddings sections isn’t only for privileged Ivy Leaguers and their wealthy parents. This one, for example, features a pregnant bride and at least one electronic monitoring bracelet. Enjoy.
And now, this week’s legal eagle finalist couples (six people, six Harvard degrees, zero ankle bracelets):

1. Katherine Zeisel and Joshua Salzman
2. Maria Gambale and Zachary Taylor
3. Karen Milkosky and Patrick Curran

Check out these couples’ résumés and photos, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 7.5: The Richest Guys in the Room”

Dr. Li-ann Thio: An Update

By

Thio Li Ann Visiting Professor NYU Law School.jpgTime for a quick follow-up on Monday’s post about NYU Law School’s controversial decision to invite Dr. Li-ann Thio, an outspoken proponent of criminalizing gay sex, to teach a course on human rights in the fall. The post generated almost 300 comments, many of them quite thoughtful — like this one:

I am a gay man living in Singapore. I have lived in Asia (including Singapore) for over 15 years. So, I have firsthand knowledge of the discriminatory environment for gay men and lesbians living in Singapore.

I am not sure what the administrators of NYU Law School were thinking when they hired Dr. Thio to teach “human rights” in Asia. Asking a Singaporean tenured at a Singapore government-funded university to teach about human rights in Asia is like asking a Ku Klux Klan grandmaster to teach about racial equality. She will simply be a mouthpiece for the Singapore government’s positions on human rights issues. If Dr. Thio espoused views opposed to the Singapore government’s – trust me – she would not be teaching at the National University of Singapore. As everyone in the international human rights community knows, the Singapore government is not a “model” example for upholding human rights.

So Dr. Thio may not have been the best person in the galaxy to pick as a visiting professor of human rights. On the other hand, her views — definitely unorthodox in the American legal academy — could generate healthy and informative debate (like what we saw in our comments).
In our reader poll, which attracted over 3,000 votes, over 55 percent of you supported NYU’s decision to host Dr. Li-ann Thio. Not surprisingly, given the freewheeling, irreverent comments on this site, ATL readers are pro-free speech.
And so is the NYU OUTLaw Board, to its credit. In the wake of our coverage, the board issued a statement criticizing Li-ann Thio’s views, but simultaneously observing that it is “best to fight Dr. Thio’s offensive views not by silencing her but by engaging in a respectful and productive dialogue about the boundaries of human rights.”
The full OUTLaw statement — plus an adult-themed reader poll, by popular request — after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Dr. Li-ann Thio: An Update”

NYU Professor of Human Rights: Not a Fan of Gay Rights?
Also: Is anal sex like ‘shoving a straw up your nose to drink’?

By

Thio Li Ann Visiting Professor NYU Law School.jpgAcademic freedom is a beautiful thing, essential to our nation’s celebrated system of higher education. And, to borrow the words of Dick Cheney on gay marriage, “freedom means freedom for everyone” — including people whose ideas we might not like, or even find repugnant.
How far should academic freedom extend? That’s an issue being faced right now at NYU Law School. The following message went out to the law student community last week:

Dear Student,

We are writing on behalf of OUTLaw, NYU Law’s LGBT student group, to raise awareness of anti-gay statements made by a NYU visiting professor. Dr. Li-ann Thio, a professor at the National University of Singapore, will be teaching Human Rights Law in Asia during the Fall 2009 semester as a Global Visiting Professor of Law at NYU.

In 2007, the Singaporean Parliament was considering repealing 377A – the statute criminalizing consensual sex between men in Singapore. Dr. Thio, a Nominated Member of Parliament, gave a speech before Parliament arguing against the repeal. In her speech supporting the continued criminalization of “acts of gross indecency” between two males, she made such statements as, “You cannot make a human wrong a human right,” “Diversity is not a license for perversity,” and that anal sex is like “shoving a straw up your nose to drink” (http://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/10/377a-serves-public-morality-nmp-thio-li-ann). The efforts to repeal 377A failed, and consensual sex between men is still illegal in Singapore.

While respecting Dr. Thio’s right to her opinion and without questioning her teaching abilities, OUTLaw believes it is important for LGBT students and allies to be aware of her views in order to make fully informed decisions regarding class registration. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the OUTLaw Board at nyu.outlaw@gmail.com.

The NYU OUTLaw Board

Links to videos of her speech to the Parliament: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWqp3mLz4ko (part 1), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUDYo29gNNg (part 2), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPIdp0qXZy4 (part 3)”

The videos are worth checking out (especially if you’re a high school debater wanting to relive your glory days). Dr. Thio speaks persuasively and with conviction, supporting her argument against gay sex with an impressively broad range of sources, from the Bible to Immanuel Kant to contemporary bloggers. One would expect nothing less from someone with her dazzling educational pedigree: a BA from Oxford, an LLM from Harvard Law School, and a PhD from Cambridge. Don’t call her Dr. TTThio!
Additional discussion, plus a reader poll, after the jump.

double red triangle arrows Continue reading “NYU Professor of Human Rights: Not a Fan of Gay Rights?
Also: Is anal sex like ‘shoving a straw up your nose to drink’?“

Memo to the New York Times: NY Law School is not NYU Law School

By

Times are tough for the paper that gives us all the news that’s fit to print, so we almost feel badly about calling the old girl out on this. But it is the New York Times after all.
The paper recently mentioned NYLS-grad-turned-cupcake-entrepreneur Lev Ekster, who’s gotten lots of attention from us, as well as from other media outlets. But this recent article on the vendor truck turf wars incorrectly states that Lev is an NYU Law grad. Here’s a screenshot:
NYU law grad.jpg
The NYT is not the first to make this mistake. When Thrillist first broke the cupcake story in mid-May, it made the same mistake, since corrected. We all make mistakes, but we’d like to try to prevent the MSM making this one in the future. Here’s our memo (with love):

To: The New York Times and other media outlets
From: Above The Law
Re: New York Law School vs. New York University Law School

  • New York Law School is not New York University Law School.
  • NYLS is in Tribeca. NYU Law is in Greenwich Village.
  • NYLS has 2 Girls 1 Dress. NYU has Arthur Miller.
  • NYU Law is ranked the fifth best law school in the land. NYLS is ranked.

    • Turf War at the Hot Dog Cart [New York Times]

    Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 5.17: Be My Bâby

    By

    champagne glasses small.jpgLast week, the “normal-seeming” couple won our reader poll in a romp over the buttoned-up, hyper-achieving competition. No danger of that this week! All three of these contestant couples give off major type-A vibes and are firmly locked in prestigious-degree-accumulation mode. And oh, how we love them.
    Here are the contestants:

    1. Alyssa Worsham and Bretton Dimick
    2. Sada Jacobson and Brendan Bâby
    3. Julie Ehrlich and Noam Elcott

    Check out these couples’ credentials and photos, after the jump.

    double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 5.17: Be My Bâby”

    Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 4.26: Irish I-Dos

    By

    champagne glasses small.jpg

    There are certain phrases you don’t expect to encounter in the same wedding announcement. “U2′s The Edge” and “associate counsel to President George W. Bush” probably fit that bill. And yet one of this week’s weddings manages just that curious alchemy, and more.

    Here are this week’s finalists:

    1. Robyn Neblett and Jermaine Fanfair

    2. Elaine Stuart and Nirav Shah

    3. Leslie Fahrenkopf and Thomas Foley

    Get all the details on these couples, after the jump.

    double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 4.26: Irish I-Dos”

    NYU Law Revue Preview: Part 2

    By

    The NYU Law School “Law Revue” is opening this weekend. We linked to a promotional video a few days ago. But with opening night right around the corner, the NYU guys are stepping it up, with this fully animated homage:

    That’s it, I’m in. Can somebody get me tickets?

    Earlier: NYU Law Revue Preview

    Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 3.8: Upper Register

    By

    champagne glasses small.jpg

    Just two lawyer weddings show up on the Legal Eagle Wedding Watch this week, but both are vigorous, Ivy-licious contenders. There’s even a juicy clerkship in the mix to herald the approach of spring!

    Here are our finalists:

    1. Allison Podell and Bradley Saft

    2. Dina Mishra and Benjamin Shultz

    More about these couples’ qualifications, after the jump.

    double red triangle arrows Continue reading “Legal Eagle Wedding Watch 3.8: Upper Register”

    NYU Law Revue Preview

    By

    Many of you know that I am an HLS Parody alum. I have a healthy respect for law students flexing their creative cords. And since it’s not like there’s anything anybody can do to get jobs just at the moment, what’s the harm in having a little fun?

    That said, I’m not at all above opening up earnest actors to the ridicule color commentary of the Above the Law community. Spread the love, that’s what I say.

    So, here’s the preview for the NYU Law Revue going up later this month (in which ATL gets some shout-outs):


    Please Repeat the Question from Amanda Bakale on Vimeo.

    “If that’s movin’ up then I’m, movin’ out.”

    Seriously though, everybody needs to try to laugh a little more, especially during this economic meltdown. Have fun guys.