We’ve recently seen several less-than-stellar responses from respected academic institutions that have been justified on the grounds that they did what they did to maintain “free speech”: Stanford’s response to Kyle Duncan’s inability to justify his positions to students and Amy Wax spewing PragerU talking points come to mind. Not to be undone by its cohort, Columbia responded to largely peaceful protests by calling the cops on their students and suspending them en masse. In response, several of Columbia’s law professors banded together to share their disappointment in Columbia’s response:
NEW: Columbia Law School faculty members write in a letter to university leadership that they are “deeply troubled” by NYPD arrests of protesters on the lawn. They argue that the “encampment was peaceful and did not pose an imminent threat to public safety.” pic.twitter.com/b0cqzK6dhv
— Zach Kessel (@zach_kessel) April 22, 2024
Leave it to law professors to be right on the mark when it comes to faulting an institution for failing to adhere to procedure! It is hard to justify blanket suspensions because of unspecified policies unless, of course, you get to jettison staples of justice like due process when people start saying things you don’t like. Notice is, after all, a key component of due process. You could make the argument that people are still beholden to undisclosed laws and punishments, but I’d also doubt you’d fare well in either Constitutional or Criminal Law. Frankly, it is harder to make the point better than the law professors did:
Procedural irregularity, a lack of transparency about the university’s decision making, and the extraordinary involvement of the NYPD all threaten the university’s legitimacy within its own community and beyond its gates. We urge the university to conform student discipline to clear and well-established procedures that respect the rule of law.
It is also worth noting that Columbia’s response probably won’t go over too well in due time. This isn’t the only time that a major Columbia protest looked like this:
That’s my law school right behind that phalanx of cops. Behind that wall of windows is a lounge through which @ColumbiaLaw faculty and staff have an unobstructed view of a “clear and present danger.” The silence is deafening. pic.twitter.com/EkYOBfsCjj
— Alka Pradhan⁷ (@PradhanAlka) April 21, 2024
It looked a lot like this back in 1968 when Columbia students were protesting the war in Vietnam:
Back then, the university’s punishments were relatively tame compared to how they’ve responded this time:
In the ‘60’s we had sit-ins protesting Vietnam, racial injustice, & supporting justice for campus workers. We were evicted – not arrested or suspended. Columbia’s behaving abominably. Ruining the lives of students isn’t how a university should act https://t.co/jNCGiWp2a5.
— James J. Zogby (@jjz1600) April 19, 2024
So much for speaking your mind on campus.
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
