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:
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:
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:
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.