...By Judah Olanisebee for TDPel Media.
Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne responded to an embarrassing protest by a student mob, promising to safeguard free speech.
The protest was joined by the school’s dean of equity, Tirien Steinbach, at a speaking engagement by a Trump-appointed judge, Judge Kyle Duncan.
Steinbach had initially claimed that Duncan had the right to express his views but then delivered an impassioned six-minute speech condemning his life’s work.
Tessier-Lavigne cited the talk, which has led to federal judges promising not to hire Stanford Law students as clerks, as a ‘deeply disappointing event’ that the school must reject.
He also promised that freshman students would be given workshops that would teach them how to discuss contentious issues in a constructive manner.
Embarrassing protest
Duncan was ambushed by Steinbach and a group of woke students during a speech at Stanford Law School. Steinbach condemned Duncan’s life’s work, prompting federal judges to promise not to hire Stanford Law students as clerks.
Tessier-Lavigne called the incident a ‘deeply disappointing event’ and promised to safeguard free speech.
Student workshops
The university president promised ‘new initiatives to safeguard and strengthen’ campus freedom of speech, including workshops for freshman students to teach them how to discuss contentious issues in a constructive manner.
Tessier-Lavigne also said that the school must reject such corrosive conduct, and students should extend empathy beyond their close personal relationships to see one another as people with complexity, not as partisan types.
Duncan’s controversial life’s work
Duncan, a 51-year-old Louisiana-born lawyer, known for challenging LGBTQ+ rights, was appointed a federal judge in 2018 by then-President Trump.
He represented Christian company Hobby Lobby in their case against providing contraception on health insurance plans to their staff.
A case that Duncan successfully argued before the Supreme Court.
The LGBTQ+ advocacy group Lambda Legal said Duncan had ‘spent his whole career working to annihilate civil rights progress.’
Impact on students
The incident has resulted in federal judges promising not to hire Stanford Law students as clerks, similar to the boycott announced by judges James Ho and Elizabeth Branch against Yale Law School last year.
Stanford Law School and Yale Law School are two of the most prestigious law schools in the United States, producing numerous prominent leaders, including presidents, senators, and Supreme Court justices.
