When
it
comes
to
picking
a
law
school
dean
the
University
of
Arkansas
at
Fayetteville
had
one
question
that
carried
a
lot
of
weight
in
the
hiring
process:
What
is
your
stance
on
high
school
student
athletes
taking
hormonal
puberty
treatment?
Not
because
the
law
school
has
a
prize
relay
race
team
or
anything
—
they
just
want
to
make
sure
that
any
notions
of
gender
that
match
up
with
contemporary
understandings
of
sexual
differentiation
don’t
make
their
way
in
to
law
school
curricula.
The
glib
explanation
given
by
Bart
Hester
was
that
the
people
of
Arkansas
wouldn’t
want
somebody
that
doesn’t
know
the
difference
between
a
man
and
a
woman
teaching
lawyers,
but
I
think
the
proper
pedagogical
choice
runs
counter
to
the
narrative
Republicans
are
pushing.
Trust
me,
if
you
select
a
dean
that
can
adequately
navigate
the
complexities
of
sex
and
gender
enough
to
know
when
to
use
he/him,
she/they
and
xe/xim,
they’d
have
no
problem
teaching
a
future
generation
of
lawyers
when
a
property
interest
will
vest,
should
it
do
so
at
all.
You
don’t
have
to
be
a
star
issue
spotter
to
recognize
that
Emily
Suski
signing
a
brief
in
support
of
a
cut-and-dried
Title
IX
issue
shouldn’t
be
a
disqualifying
factor.
But
not
falling
in
line
with
political
doxa
is,
and
Hester
flirting
with
the
idea
of
the
legislature
cutting
some
of
U
of
A’s
funding
is
hard
to
ignore.
That’s
what
we
in
the
biz
call
a
threat.
Law
students
at
U
of
A
have
enough
sense
to
see
what
is
going
on
and
some
of
them
joined
together
to
protest
Suski’s
firing.
Ark
Times
has
coverage:
Law
students
at
the
University
of
Arkansas
in
Fayetteville
are
putting
on
funeral
attire
this
morning
to
mourn
the
death
of
academic
freedom
in
the
state.
The
public
is
invited
to
join
them,
starting
at
11:15
a.m.
at
the
entrance
to
the
Leflar
Law
Center.A
group
called
Arkansas
Law
Students
for
Academic
Freedom
is
planning
this
demonstration
and
mile-long
walk
for
today
in
the
aftermath
of
a
confusing
and
embarrassing
blowup
in
the
hiring
process
for
a
new
law
school
dean.
Students
should
make
use
of
the
right
to
protest
for
as
long
as
they
have
it.
Hester’s
comfort
in
dangling
the
legislative
purse,
Ken
Levy’s
legal
trouble
over
the
governor
not
liking
his
Trump
bad
mouthing,
and
JD
Vance’s
jawboning
going
after
anyone
who
mentioned
he-who-must-not-be-named
are
all
recent
parts
of
a
trend
toward
cracking
down
on
dissenting
opinions
and
thoughts.
Not
that
the
students
don’t
pick
up
on
the
gravitas
of
the
situation;
it
is
harder
to
come
up
with
a
more
heavy-handed
approach
than
what
they’re
going
with.
But
it
is
appropriate
given
the
circumstances.
What
a
dumb
reason
to
fire
someone
after
two
years
of
trying
to
fill
the
position.
Law
Students
Protest
Ouster
Of
Would-Be
Dean
Over
Her
Legal
Analysis
On
Transgender
Athletes
[Ark
Times]
Earlier:
Law
School
Dean
Survives
Two-Year
Search,
Falls
To
One-Week
Culture
War
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
is
learning
to
swim, is
interested
in
critical
race
theory,
philosophy,
and
humor,
and
has
a
love
for
cycling
that
occasionally
annoys
his
peers.
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected]
and
by
tweet
at @WritesForRent.