As Twitchy reported last week, law students at Stanford University shouted down Kyle Duncan, a conservative judge who famously refused to use a transgender sex offender’s preferred pronouns in court. These kids (or their parents) are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for them to become lawyers, and they can’t help themselves from acting like animals when presented with a differing viewpoint. Duncan was eventually led out the back door to safety. We really do fear for the future.
When Duncan asked an administrator to step in, the law school’s associate dean of DEI, Tirien Steinbach, reminded the students of something called the First Amendment but also chastised Duncan for causing “harm” and admitting she was “deeply, deeply uncomfortable” with his presence on campus. Fortunately, Stanford sent out an email to let any students who were traumatized by the event know they could reach out to … Steinbach.
There have been a handful of really embarrassing displays at law schools in the past couple of years. Students at Stanford still aren’t willing to let go of Duncan’s appearance and protested the law school’s dean for apologizing to Duncan for their ridiculous behavior.
NEW: Hundreds of Stanford students lined the halls yesterday to protest the law school’s dean, Jenny Martinez, for apologizing to Kyle Duncan, the judge shouted down last week.
The students effectively subjected Martinez to an intimidating walk of shame.🧵https://t.co/6gEj2A0j4z
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
Martinez arrived to the classroom where she teaches constitutional law to find a whiteboard covered in fliers attacking Duncan and defending those who disrupted him. The fliers parroted the argument, made by student activists, that the heckler’s veto is a form of free speech. pic.twitter.com/AjfN9VooBP
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
"We, the students in your constitutional law class, are sorry for exercising our 1st Amendment rights," some fliers read. As a private law school, Stanford is not bound by the First Amendment.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
When Martinez’s class adjourned, the protesters, dressed in black and wearing face masks that read "counter-speech is free speech," stared silently at Martinez as she exited the room, according to five students who witnessed the episode.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
The student protesters, who formed a human corridor from Martinez’s classroom to the building’s exit, comprised nearly a third of the law school. And the majority of Martinez’s class—approximately 50 students out of the 60 enrolled—participated in the protest themselves.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
The few who didn’t join the protesters received the same stare down as their professor as they hurried through the makeshift walk of shame.
"They gave us weird looks if we didn’t wear black" and join the crowd, said Luke Schumacher, a first-year law student in Martinez’s class.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
"It didn’t feel like the inclusive, belonging atmosphere that the DEI office claims to be creating."
Another student in the class, who likewise declined to protest, said the spectacle was a surreal experience.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
"It was eerie," the student said. "The protesters were silent, staring from behind their masks at everyone who chose not to protest, including the dean."
Ironically, the student added, "this form of protest would have been completely fine" at Duncan’s talk on Thursday.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
This protest was even larger than the one that disrupted Duncan’s talk, and came on the heels of statements from at least three student groups rebuking Martinez’s apology.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
The Stanford National Lawyers Guild said Saturday that Martinez had thrown "capable and compassionate administrators" under the bus. Stanford’s immigration law group issued a similar declaration Sunday, writing that Martinez’s apology to Duncan "only made this situation worse."
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
And Stanford Law School’s chapter of the American Constitution Society expressed outrage that Martinez and Tessier-Lavigne had framed Duncan "as a victim, when in fact he himself had made civil dialogue impossible."
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
The groups argued that the students who disrupted Duncan, in violation of Stanford’s free speech policies, were merely exercising their own free speech rights. That idea appears to be shared by Tirien Steinbach, the diversity dean who harangued Duncan.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
In a conversation with students after the event, Steinbach claimed the hecklers hadn’t violated any law school policies, according to two people who witnessed the conversation.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
She also alleged that Duncan hadn’t prepared a speech—a claim contradicted by video of the judge holding pages of pre-written remarks—and that he was a serial provocateur, belittling law students everywhere he's spoken in order to rile them up for the cameras.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
Steinbach, who did not respond to a request for comment, laid the blame for the chaos entirely at Duncan’s feet, the people who witnessed the conversation said.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
Martinez said at the start of her class that she had received a number of emails complaining about her apology to Duncan—which was co-signed by the president of Stanford—but told students they would not be litigating that dispute during Monday’s class.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
After Martinez left the building, Schumacher said, the protesters began to cheer, cry, and hug. "We are creating a hostile environment at this law school," Schumacher said—"hostile for anyone who thinks an Article III judge should be able to speak without heckling."
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) March 14, 2023
Cheer, cry, and hug. We’re not kidding about fearing for our future if tomorrow’s lawyers and law clerks cry over a conservative stepping on campus.
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Related:
Stanford offers support to students traumatized by appearance of conservative judge https://t.co/iAqJKqKNjj
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 13, 2023
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