by James A. Bacon
The Jefferson Council is often critical of the free-speech environment at the University of Virginia, but we’re also cognizant that things could be a lot worse. UVA could be Harvard, which has the worst possible free-speech rating from the Foundation for Individual Rights & Expression… or Berkeley, which is almost as bad.
In his Substack publication Original Jurisdiction, legal analyst David Lat contrasts the behavior of law students at UVA and Berkeley. Describing a speech at UVA by Justice Jay Mitchell of the Alabama Supreme Court, who wrote the controversial opinion in Alabama’s invitro fertilization case, Lat writes:
Some UVA students decided to protest him. As I approached the room where he would be speaking, I saw several protesters standing outside and holding signs. I wondered if they would yell at me or other people going into the talk, à la the Stanford law students who shouted “shame, shame” at attendees of Judge Kyle Duncan’s March 2023 talk—and who screamed at Judge Duncan things like, “We hope your daughters get raped!”
But these were the most polite protesters I’ve ever seen. They didn’t heckle or harass Justice Mitchell, me, or anyone else who went into his talk. They stood outside the room, quietly holding signs. And once his talk got underway, they left to attend a counter-event—“a lunch to raise funds for SisterSong, a reproductive-justice coalition led by women of color.” That counter-event was accompanied by a flyer that criticized Justice Mitchell’s LePage opinion, replete with footnotes and case citations.
“That’s how protest should work,” Lat says. “Upon learning that Justice Mitchell was coming to campus, protesters prepared a written critique of his opinion, circulated it within the law school, and invited people to attend a competing event. They responded to reasoned argument with reasoned argument. They didn’t prevent those of us who wanted to listen to Justice Mitchell from doing so. They didn’t disrupt.”
By contrast, at a recent incident in Berkeley, law students disrupted a private dinner held by law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky. As the dean later wrote:
About 60 students came to our home for the dinner. All had registered in advance. All came into our backyard and were seated at tables for dinner. While guests were eating, a woman [later identified as Berkeley Law student Malak Afaneh] stood up with a microphone, stood on the top step in the yard, and began a speech, including about the plight of the Palestinians. My wife and I immediately approached her and asked her to stop and leave. The woman continued. When she continued, there was an attempt to take away her microphone. Repeatedly, we said to her that you are a guest in our home, please stop and leave. About 10 students were clearly with her and ultimately left as a group.
UVA’s law school is truly an elite institution — tied for 4th in the nation by U.S. News & World-Report. A distinguishing trait of the school compared to its elite peers is a culture relatively tolerant of free speech. Admittedly, this is a very low bar. Even at UVA, the fair and impartial enforcement of free speech warrants continual monitoring and pushback against double standards in combating “hate speech.” But we want to acknowledge UVA’s strengths as well as its flaws, so we thought Lat’s piece worthy of readers’ attention.
Sometimes we hear from alumni who believe UVA has gone so far down the rabbit hole of wokeness that it’s a lost cause. Not only have they stopped donating to the University, but they think it’s a waste of time even contributing to the Jefferson Council. UVA is not a lost cause. If it were, we wouldn’t be wasting our time with it.
To the contrary, we believe that if UVA Law could rectify its philosophical/ ideological imbalance and if it manages to maintain a climate conducive to the civil exchange of ideas, it could one day become the No. 1-rated law school in the country.
We will fight to make that happen.
“They responded to reasoned argument with reasoned argument. ”
This is how the legal process is supposed to work! For the last 20 years the Supreme Court has averaged 15 5-4 decisions per year.
Reasoned dissent is part of the process.
Nice perspective! Thank you
Exactly Mr. Bacon! This is an inflection point in the history of tertiary education and an opportunity for UVA to finally distinguish itself as THE national university Jefferson envisioned. UNC and UF have already seized upon this opportunity and will and are making gains but they lack the “UVA DNA” which even now, as Mr. Bacon writes, expresses itself in the article subject as noted in sharp contrast to the other law schools. This UVA DNA as Jefferson first envisioned it has simply been recently masked over by a woke virus carrying a spike DEI protein that showed up in August, 2018.
Yes, current UVA Team Ryan leadership, in large part with a background at Yale. Which a higher up UVA administration Yale grad privately, and surprising to me, admitted that in his opinion his alma mater has gone off a cliff. Is UVA to continue to follow the other Ivy League lemmings? Think Claudine Gay and Harvard’s self inflicted DEI be-clowning. At UVA think Ryan who now hides in his favorite DEI closet safe space wishing the anti-semitic problem will somehow go away without having to exercise reasoned leadership which one would rightfully expect from a president raking in $2 million a year in compensation.
But alas, he cannot help himself as his mind is hopelessly infected with the Ivy League woke ideology virus. For which virus Big Pharma by way of a vaccine and a mandate would year after year stand to make historic profits rivaling the likes of Standard Oil. I am tempted to call Bill Petri, a high school classmate, who heads up the UVA Department of Infectious Diseases to head over to Madison Hall and start immediately collecting cultures. The profits will certainly be welcome at UVIMCO to make up for the recent poor investment returns resulting from an ill conceived DEI inspired foray into ESG investing.
As an aside, it would be interesting to determine whether the woke virus with the DEI spike protein originated in a wet market or a lab in New Haven or Cambridge? Given Ryan’s obsession with promoting DEI at UVA, my money is on New Haven. In New Haven of course they will deny any Yale lab origin and deflect in true leftist knee jerk fashion as to it just had to be a bat vector that flew in from Russia. A bat having a face bearing a strange resemblance to a combination of that of Chuck Todd and Vladimir Putin of all things.
UVA has an environment very conducive to free speech. In the past few years, the University has hosted Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Senator Bernie Sanders. Students in all disciplines regularly debate and discuss ideas.
It seems to me that The Jefferson Council will just have to accept that, today, the majority of young Americans, including those at UVA, support abortion rights, significant steps combat climate change and gun violence, universal healthcare, workplace democracy and unions, a progressive tax system, and dignity and respect for all, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion.
Also, the vast majority of young people, including at UVA, support ending our country’s military and diplomatic support to the apartheid state of Israel. As evidenced by the recent referendum, most students also support the BDS movement! This is wonderful.
In my view, the most significant threat to free speech at UVA at the moment comes from those who are attempting to dox and silence student activism in support of Palestinians, painting it as antisemitic. Attorney General Miyares, for instance, has painting the BDS movement and the recent UVA referendum as being antisemitic. Bert Ellis and Douglas Wetmore have attempted to do so as well, and The Jefferson Council has also contributed to making this conflation. This is, of course, ridiculous!
There are, unfortunately, a small group of parents and students attempting to suppress any form of Palestine solidarity at UVA by conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. They will fail, and they are on the wrong side of history.
For those interested in participating in the BDS movement: https://bdsmovement.net/
BDS founding statement (2005):
One year after the historic Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which found Israel’s Wall built on occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal; Israel continues its construction of the colonial Wall with total disregard to the Court’s decision. Thirty eight years into Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank (including East Jerusalem), Gaza Strip and the Syrian Golan Heights, Israel continues to expand Jewish colonies. It has unilaterally annexed occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights and is now de facto annexing large parts of the West Bank by means of the Wall. Israel is also preparing – in the shadow of its planned redeployment from the Gaza Strip – to build and expand colonies in the West Bank. Fifty seven years after the state of Israel was built mainly on land ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian owners, a majority of Palestinians are refugees, most of whom are stateless. Moreover, Israel’s entrenched system of racial discrimination against its own Arab-Palestinian citizens remains intact.
In light of Israel’s persistent violations of international law; and
Given that, since 1948, hundreds of UN resolutions have condemned Israel’s colonial and discriminatory policies as illegal and called for immediate, adequate and effective remedies; and
Given that all forms of international intervention and peace-making have until now failed to convince or force Israel to comply with humanitarian law, to respect fundamental human rights and to end its occupation and oppression of the people of Palestine; and
In view of the fact that people of conscience in the international community have historically shouldered the moral responsibility to fight injustice, as exemplified in the struggle to abolish apartheid in South Africa through diverse forms of boycott, divestment and sanctions; and Inspired by the struggle of South Africans against apartheid and in the spirit of international solidarity, moral consistency and resistance to injustice and oppression;
We, representatives of Palestinian civil society, call upon international civil society organizations and people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era. We appeal to you to pressure your respective states to impose embargoes and sanctions against Israel. We also invite conscientious Israelis to support this Call, for the sake of justice and genuine peace.
These non-violent punitive measures should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:
1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in 1967 and dismantling the Wall
2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.
I support BDS. I am a member of the BDS movement. In line with HRW and AI, I recognize that Israel engages a brutal system of apartheid and dispossession. Israel has been carrying out an ethnic cleansing of the native Palestinian population for 75 years.
In the eyes of The Jefferson Council and Attorney General Jason Miyares, it appears that my support for the BDS movement and opposition to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza makes me antisemitic. In the eyes of The Jefferson Council and Attorney General Jason Miyares, it also appears that, while being fully against all attacks on civilians, my belief that Palestinians have a right to resist occupation makes me antisemitic.
The majority of students that support the BDS movement fear being doxxed by The Jefferson Council, the Canary Mission, or other alumni and parent groups. You are part of the problem, Jefferson Council. Look in the mirror.
*engages in
I support BDS. I am a member of the BDS movement. In line with HRW and Amnesty, I recognize that Israel engages a brutal system of apartheid and dispossession. I also recognize that Israel has been carrying out an ethnic cleansing of the native Palestinian population for 75 years.
In the eyes of The Jefferson Council and Attorney General Jason Miyares, it appears that my support for the BDS movement and opposition to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza makes me antisemitic. In the eyes of The Jefferson Council and Attorney General Jason Miyares, it also appears that, while being fully against all attacks on civilians, my belief that Palestinians have a right to resist occupation makes me antisemitic.
The majority of students that support the BDS movement fear being doxxed by The Jefferson Council, the Canary Mission, or other alumni and parent groups.
You are part of the problem, Jefferson Council. Look in the mirror.
Thank you.
*engages in a brutal system of apartheid
https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution
https://www.btselem.org/publications/fulltext/202101_this_is_apartheid
Thank you “Student” for your perspectives and normally I would respond point for point as to where your statements are inconsistent with actual truth, but you lost me long ago when you defend and are a proponent for those who sunk so low on October 7th as to place babies in microwave ovens much the same as the Nazis did to Jews. Actions do actually speak louder than all your words and that fact as to the ovens is simply indefensible in the arena of reasoned debate. Again thank you, as what you write actually says more about you and serves to provide more clarity as to the issue you continue to bring up which was not in fact the focus of the article Mr. Bacon wrote. Have a good day.
“Clarity,” I value the life of an Israeli just as much as a Palestinian. As I stated, I am against attacks on civilians. I am not a “proponent” of those, although no babies were beheaded or placed in ovens, as was erroneously reported initially.
I value the life of the 35 children killed in Israel on Oct 7th as much as the 14,000 children killed in Gaza since then.
Have a good day too. Goodbye.
“Clarity,” I value the life of an Israeli civilian just as much as a Palestinian civilian, or any other human being.
I am not a “proponent” or supporter of any attacks on civilians, although you should probably know that no babies were beheaded or placed in ovens, as was erroneously reported initially, on October 7th.
I value the life of each the 35 children, including the 10 month old baby, killed in Israel on Oct 7th as much as the each of the 14,000 children killed in Gaza since then in Israel’s genocidal war. Do you? Children are starving in Gaza due to Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon. This is unconscionable. No human being with a conscience can justify this.
“Clarity,” I really don’t have the patience to engage with those who don’t see Palestinians as equal human beings deserving of dignity, self-determination, and equal rights.
I also really can’t don’t have the patience to engage with those who attempt to justify collective punishment. Nothing justifies starving a captive civilian population. Nothing justifies genocide. Nothing can justify Israel’s destruction of 70% of the civilian infrastructure of Gaza.
Goodbye, “Clarity.”
See recent image of a starving child shared by by Christiane Amanpour – “Starvation. The unacceptable face of Israel’s war on Gaza. A doctor from an international aid agency took these pictures 10th April at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. The desperate parents gave permission to publish these.”
https://twitter.com/amanpour/status/1779150476212101538
“Student”, you are entitled to your opinions but not the facts and no amount of histrionics will make up for your lack of facts in a reasoned debate. The subject of which in this article is the contrast in behavior as to those who stand and are confident in their truth vs. those who do not and have to resort to offensive and vulgar behavior in a vain attempt to force their “truth” on others. And that is why your side loses the debate.
You cannot defend the indefensible, and here are more facts:
Your photo of the child emphatically serves as a visual representation of your lack of a grasp on the real truth and facts. The behavior of your cohorts once again serves to once confirm clearly that actions do in fact speak so much louder than mere words. And it is those actions whether at Berkeley or UVA that are causing you to lose the debate.
P.S. If you are able to respond, you would gain credibility if you could address factually why again, Egypt and Jordan acted so swiftly to prevent Palestinians from entering their countries. Just what is it that they obviously know about their brothers that you do not? It could prove a valuable exercise for you if truth actually means anything to you.
Don’t go too far congratulating UVALaw for being less bad than Stanford. Yes, our activists behaved themselves. But I would have preferred them attending and LISTENING to the speaker. That particular case has been largely misrepresented for the usual political reasons. Maybe listen to what led him to his decision? Asking for a friend…
With more Youngkin appointees coming soon to the Board, Ryan’s life is about to get more difficult. My bet is that Ryan has his name in play for other jobs, and the last thing he wants is a damning report to come out anytime soon.
One can hope…..
Yes. Ryan will be gone in 2025 (or maybe before), either lured away, fired or just having grown weary of keeping his DEI bureaucracy afloat.