The dean of Yale Law School has finally broken her silence two weeks after woke students shouted down speakers and threatened them during a debate on free speech.
Heather Gerken said Monday that students’ behavior during the March 10 fracas at a debate between a conservative speaker and a progressive had been ‘unacceptable,’ but insisted that it fell within the college’s rules.
She wrote: ‘This behavior was unacceptable; at a minimum it violated the norms of this Law School. This is an institution of higher learning, not a town square, and no one should interfere with others’ efforts to carry on activities on campus.
‘YLS is a professional school, and this is not how lawyers interact. We are also a community that respects our faculty and staff who have devoted their lives to helping students. Professor Kate Stith, Dean Mike Thompson, and other members of the staff should not have been treated as they were.
‘I expect far more from our students, and I want to state unequivocally that this cannot happen again. My administration will be in serious discussion with our students about our policies and norms for the rest of the semester.’
But Gerken also insisted that the students hadn’t actually violated the college’s rules – even though one protester was filmed shouting ‘I’ll fight you bitch,’ while squaring up to conservative speaker Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and liberal humanist Monica Miller.
She explained: ‘In accordance with the University’s free expression policy, which includes a three-warning protocol, those protesting exited the room after the first warning, and the event went forward. Had the protestors shut down the event, our course of action would have been straightforward – the offending students without question staff. would have been subject to discipline.
Yale’s Law School Dean Heather Gerken (pictured) said students at a protest earlier this month were well within their rights to protest and their actions did not warrant disciplinary actions
‘Although the students complied with University policies inside the event, several students engaged in rude and insulting behavior as the event began; a number made excessive noise in our hallways that interfered with several events taking place.’
The debate, hosted by the college’s conservative-libertarian Federalist Society, had been intended to show how two speakers from different ideological perspectives could agree on the need to support the First Amendment.
But it was hijacked by an angry mob upset over the ADF’s previous position on LGBTQ issues, who screeched, screamed and banged the walls outside when told to leave.
Gerken wasn’t present at the debate, but assistant dean Ellen Cosgrove was, and failed to confront students, leading to allegations of cowardice.
More than 100 students intimated a conservative panelist during Yale Law School’s free speech debate earlier this month
The panel featured progressive Monica Miller (left) and conservative Christian Kristen Waggoner (right), both of whom took the same side in a 2021 case involving legal remedies for First Amendment violations that was presented to the Supreme Court
Some of the students were captured intimidating Waggoner by yelling they would ‘literally fight you, b***h’
According to the school’s policy, all students are ‘generally free’ to express their views and that free expression includes the ‘right to peaceful dissent, protests in peaceable assembly and orderly demonstrations, and the use of signs, banners, and posters.’
But the policy also specifies that when the school hosts outside speakers, students can protest and express disagreement but they are not allowed to ‘interfere with a speaker’s ability to speak or attendees’ ability to attend, listen and hear.’
The havoc caused by the nearly 120 demonstrators appeared to clearly violate the university’s free speech policy and when they were reminded by moderator Kate Stith, she was met with chants and raised middle fingers, to which she replied: ‘Grow up.’ Stith was subsequently accused of ‘ableism’ by the woke mob.
The students hit back, arguing that their disturbance was execution of ‘free speech’ and continued to scream at the panelists.
‘I’m going to have to ask you to leave, or help you leave,’ Stith responded.
Ultimately, police were called to the auditorium to safely escort the speakers out of the building.
As protesters left the event, one yelled ‘F**k you, FedSoc’ as others began to stomp, shout, clap, sing and pound on the hall walls.
Students and professors claimed the protesters were so loud that they disrupted classes, exams and faculty meetings.
In her email Gerken did concede that students engaged in ‘rude and insulting behavior,’ that was ‘unacceptable’ and that have led to ‘serious discussions’ regarding policies for the rest of the semester.
The March 10 panel was meant to illustrate that a liberal atheist and a conservative Christian could find common ground on free speech issues, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Both took the same side in a 2021 case involving legal remedies for First Amendment violations that was presented to the Supreme Court, but protesters were outraged by the ADF’s successful Supreme Court defense of a Colorado baker who refused to make a gay wedding cake.
Miller was harangued ahead of the event by totalitarian students claiming her very presence at the event was ‘harming the flourishing of queer lives,’ with Waggoner and ADF supporters hit with threats at the meeting itself.
The students screamed profanities at Waggoner, including one who threatened they would ‘literally fight you, b***h’
The protesters berated the speaker, chanting ‘protect trans kids’ and ‘shame, shame’ throughout the law school building after police officers escorted her and Miller out of the building
When law school professor Kate Stith introduced Waggoner, the protestors stood up and displayed signs attacking the nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom, for which Waggoner works.
Video of the incident, which was obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, shows the students screaming profanities at Waggoner.
The protesters berated the speaker, chanting ‘protect trans kids’ and ‘shame, shame’ throughout the law school building after police officers escorted her and Miller out of the building.
Waggoner expressed horror at the students’ behavior, alleging ‘the future of the legal profession in America is in dire straits.’
‘It was disturbing to witness law students whipped into a mindless frenzy. I did not feel it was safe to get out of the room without security,’ she told the newspaper.
‘Yale Law students are our future attorneys, judges, legislators, and corporate executives. We must change course and restore a culture of free speech and civil discourse at Yale and other law schools, or the future of the legal profession in America is in dire straits.’
Miller, who during the panel characterized Waggoner’s nonprofit as a ‘hate group,’ echoed her debate opponent’s remarks, claiming the disruption was an ‘ominous sign’ for the legal profession.
‘As lawyers, we have to put aside our differences and talk to opposing counsel,’ she told the Free Beacon. ‘If you can’t talk to your opponents, you can’t be an effective advocate.’
A member of the Federalist Society, which hosted the panel, said they selected Waggoner and Miller to demonstrate how a conservative Christian and a liberal atheist could were able to find common ground on issues of free speech.
‘It was pretty much the most innocuous thing you could talk about,’ he alleged.
Two days after the panel, 417 students – equating for more than 60 percent of the law school’s student body – reportedly signed an open letter issuing support for ‘peaceful student protesters.’
The letter also alleged the protesters had been ‘imperiled by the presence of police’.
‘The danger of police violence in this country is intensified against Black LGBTQ people, and particularly black trans people,’ the letter, which was obtained by the newspaper, read.
‘Police-related trauma includes, but is certainly not limited to, physical harm. Even with all of the privilege afforded to us at YLS, the decision to allow police officers in as a response to the protest put YLS’s queer student body at risk of harm.’
The letter also slammed Stith for telling the demonstrators to ‘grow up’ and blasted the Federalist Society for hosting an event that ‘profoundly undermined our community’s values of equity and inclusivity.’
However, it remains unclear if the majority of the student body actually felt the letter reflected their personal ideals as group chats, Discord posts and emails reviewed by the Free Beacon revealed that students who hadn’t signed the petition were outwardly shamed.
‘It feels wild to me that we’re at this point in history and some folks are still not immediately signing a letter like this,’ one student allegedly posted in a class GroupMe. ‘I’m sure you realize that not signing the letter is not a neutral stance.’
Others alleged the bullying began prior to the open letter, citing that some student activists littered the law school with flyers claiming attending the free speech panel was a bigoted act.
‘Providing a veneer of respectability is part of what allows this group to do work that attacks the very lives of LGBTQ people in the U.S. & globally,’ the flyers read.
‘Through your attendance you are personally complicit, along with the Federalist Society, in platforming and legitimizing this hate group.’
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