Being
prepared
to
weather
a
Republican-led
culture
war
inquisition
wasn’t
always
a
requirement
to
lead
a
world-class
academic
institution,
but
times
have
changed.
Over
the
last
few
years,
between
the
Trump
administration’s
assault
on
higher
education
funding
and
congressional
hearings
designed
to
harass
institutions
over
“wokeness,”
anyone
hoping
to
lead
America’s
best
schools
learned
that
dealing
with
a
meddlesome
clicktatorship
is
now
part
of
the
job.
Georgetown
University
Law
Center
needed
a
new
dean
after
the
departure
of
Dean
William
Treanor
—
who
spent
his
final
year
in
the
job
telling
the
administration’s
dullest
hatchet
men
that
they
could
pound
sand
—
and
have
just
announced
their
selection.
Liz
Magill,
the
former
University
of
Pennsylvania
president
(and
Stanford
Law
dean),
will
take
over,
the
school
announced
on
Friday.
Magill,
who
got
pushed
out
at
Penn
after
grandstanding
legislators
vilified
her
for
committing
the
unforgivable
sin
of…
accurately
describing
how
university
speech
codes
work,
brings
that
battle-tested
experience
to
the
T14
institution
as
its
17th
dean.
She
will
take
over
effective
August
1.
Magill
wound
up
on
the
academic
waiver
wire
following
a
2023
House
hearing
alongside
the
presidents
of
MIT
and
Harvard.
Representative
Elise
Stefanik
asked
whether
“calling
for
the
genocide
of
Jews”
would
violate
Penn’s
code
of
conduct
—
a
curious
question
from
a
legislator
who
had
her
own
cozy
history
with
replacement
theory.
Magill
gave
the
legally
accurate
answer
that
it
would
depend
upon
context,
igniting
a
class
of
lemming
donors
to
push
her
out.
Donors
who,
it
bears
mentioning,
seem
to
have
no
problem
with
Penn’s
continued
employment
of
Amy
Wax,
the
law
professor
who
says
Black
students
aren’t
generally
smart
enough
to
finish
in
the
top
half
of
the
school
and
invites
white
nationalists
to
campus.
In
an
exclusive
interview
with
Politico,
Magill
reflected
on
how
she
wishes
she
had
better
phrased
her
congressional
testimony
to
balance
the
legal
reality
with
the
concerns
of
students:
“My
testimony
in
Congress
left
people
distressed,
and
it
particularly
did
that
for
Jewish
students
back
on
the
Penn
campus,”
Magill
told
me.
“I
take
very
seriously
the
response
that
people
had
to
my
testimony,
and
I
regret
that
I
conveyed
a
lack
of
compassion
and
care
and
good
sense
to
those
people.”
She
added,
“I
want
every
Jewish
student,
a
student
of
every
faith,
every
view,
every
single
student
to
feel
they
are
in
a
secure
environment
and
they’re
in
a
place
where
they
can
flourish.”
Having
left
the
Penn
position,
the
former
Ginsburg
clerk
sought
out
a
new
position
with
a
school
more
willing
to
absorb
some
heat.
The
school
whose
last
dean
told
the
DOJ
to
get
bent
seemed
to
be
a
good
match.
In
the
announcement,
Magill
said
the
experience
at
Penn
“clarified
what
she
sees
as
the
essential
task
of
leadership:
stating
values
clearly
and
acting
consistently
on
them.”
Magill
has
proven
she
can
take
a
hit
and
keep
moving.
The
folks
who
thought
they
ended
her
career
with
viral
clips
only
succeeded
in
helping
one
of
the
top
law
schools
in
the
country
lock
down
a
new
dean.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
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if
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Joe
also
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Managing
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