Back in January, female professors at law schools across the country started receiving strange text messages from an unidentified source who claimed that “law school isn’t fair for us men anymore” because “women always outperform us now.” The next month, as the unsettling messages continued, lamenting how “unfair” it is that “women have clearly won the battle of the sexes,” leaving men as “the losers,” the FBI reportedly began an investigation into the matter. Now, nearly nine months later, the odd text messages are still ongoing, and it’s not just law professors who are receiving them — female law students are, too.
As noted by Inside Higher Ed, Professor Victoria J. Haneman of Creighton University School of Law, who was one of the first recipients of these odd texts, said last week that women law professors at more than 30 schools have also been contacted. Who may be responsible for sending these messages? Haneman provided some insights:
Just this week, I have started receiving emails from women law students that they are now also receiving these messages. One of the students called the person who sent the message to her. He stayed on the phone for 9 minutes. He said that he is a 2L law student and repeated much of the rhetoric from the messages. He said that he had been “doing his research” and had “accepted defeat.” The male on the phone had a slight Southern accent.
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What kind of 2L has this kind of time on his hands? Sheesh. This is an invitation for a character and fitness review if and when he’s caught.
Dean Josh Fershee of Creighton Law told Inside Higher Ed that “[i]t’s a little frustrating” that more hasn’t been done to stop the perpetrator from sending these messages. “This is not a super-hidden master criminal,” he said. According to Fershee, the FBI is “monitoring [the situation] and it sounds like they are trying to narrow down who the offender is.”
The FBI encourages women who have received these creepy text messages to contact local authorities and also report them to tips.fbi.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Female Law Faculty, Students Across the Country Are Getting Unsettling Texts [Inside Higher Ed]
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Earlier: The FBI Is Investigating Strange Texts Sent To Women Law Professors
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.