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David Lat’s “Open Letter to Yale Law Dean Heather Gerken”

Check out this link. It’s worth the read, but I will give you a sample:

Yale Law School has had a difficult intellectual climate for many years. Some of it flows from the fact that progressive students (“Progressives”) view those who disagree with them—definitely conservatives, and even some moderates—as bad people (“Bad People”).

Progressions can be free Take a look at these ideas that their opponents are Bad People. They can exclude them from social gatherings. They can make Bad People feel unwelcome in affinity groups (already happening at YLS, with members of certain affinity groups being forced to choose between affinity-group and FedSoc membership). They can make fun of Bad People with satirical fliers.

But it’s your job, as the Dean of Yale Law School, to tell Progressives that in an academic community based on free expression, there are limits to how much they can act on the viewTheir opponents can be considered Bad People. Progressives can’t shut down duly organized events because they disagree with the speakers. They can’t weaponize anti-discrimination policies to punish the protected speech of their opponents. They can’t make up and spread lies about professors with unpopular views (or the students who dare to associate with those professors). It’s your job, as the Dean of Yale Law School, to remind Progressives of all this—even if they complain, call you “complicit,” or say you’re a Bad Person too….

While it won’t be easy in the immediate, the end result will be in your and their best interests. Because they’ll have to handle difficult situations and differing opinions if they go on to become lawyers. You are doing your students no favors by keeping them away from conflicting opinions and difficult situations in law school. In the short term, they might dislike or even hate you for it—but over the long term, they will (or at least should) be grateful.

It is also in your best interest to stand up for the Progressives. As many law school deans do, I am assuming that you aspire to be a university president one day. An excellent university president is like a velvet glove with an iron fist: strong, firm and charming on the outside and charming on the inside. No one, even your critics, questions your ability to be the velvet glove—and a presidential search committee won’t either. However, you still haven’t shown your iron fist. This is your moment.