“Law practice, law teaching, and legal scholarship always run the risk of being in service to the unattractive, unethical sides of law: its use for the sake of power rather than for justice, its co-optation by the wealthy, its abuse by unscrupulous government officials.”
“Genuine lawyers, legal scholars, and law schools will make central – to their practice, their writing, their teaching – the project of protest against and change to institutions and actors who disingenuously hold themselves out as acting in accord with and on behalf of law.”
So, according to Professor Feldman, a law professor is not a “genuine” academic unless he or she uses their writing and teaching to “protest against and change to institutions and actors who disingenuously hold themselves out as acting in accord with and on behalf of law.” That not just calls for classes and courses to be used for advocacy and activism but suggests that faculty members or faculty candidates who do not make a similar commitment are “lawless” and “rogue.”
Professor Feldman’s public diatribe shows why conservative and libertarian faculty have virtually disappeared from many faculties. Most top law schools only have a small percentage, if any, such faculty members. Faculty members often find a myriad of reasons to reject such candidates, including dismissing them as not being intellectually “rigorous.” At least Professor Feldman is more honest and would just declare them lawless and unacceptable because they do not share her views.
Feldman and her colleagues show why polls reflect a rising level of intimidation and self-censorship by both faculty and students on campuses. A recent poll found that 65 percent of students feel that they cannot speak freely on campuses. Another poll at the University of North Carolina found that conservative students are 300 times more likely to self-censor themselves due to the intolerance of opposing views on our campuses.
In order to avoid disfavored treatment, many remain silent in the face of such open intolerance and intimidation. Schools reinforce this chilling effort in various ways, including creating a hostile workplace for those with dissenting views.
This extends to student editors and student government leaders using their positions to retaliate against the exercise of free speech by other students with the support of faculty. We have seen student governments move to block speakers, fellow students, or groups at schools like the University of Illinois, Stanford, Iowa State, Skidmore College, Cornell, Harvard, and other schools. Student columnists have been formally condemned at schools like Georgetown and both faculty and students have sought to eliminate whole publications at schools like Dartmouth as “incubators of hate.”
I support faculty participating in protests and advocacy. I also subscribe to a robust view of academic freedom in protecting even extreme views of faculty members. However, Professor Feldman is seeking to pressure colleagues to use their classes and courses for this purpose. Indeed, she is declaring that faculty must seek to change institutions and “actors” if they are to be considered “genuine” academics. Notably, there has yet to be any widespread condemnation of her intolerant views at Georgetown. Professor Feldman is attacking the very essence of higher education as a place for pluralistic and diverse viewpoints. Yet, there is comparative silence from the ranks of her colleagues. That silence speaks even more loudly than Professor Feldman’s screed.
Here are Professor Feldman’s tweets:
Heidi Li Feldman@HeidiLiFeldman
With an actively rogue Supreme Court, U.S. lawyers, legal scholars, and law schools have to reckon with how to practice, teach, and understand law without falling into complicity with lawlessness. 1/
Replying to @HeidiLiFeldmanLaw practice, law teaching, and legal scholarship always run the risk of being in service to the unattractive, unethical sides of law: its use for the sake of power rather than for justice, its co-optation by the wealthy, its abuse by unscrupulous government officials. 2/
Heidi Li Feldman
Heidi Li Feldman
Heidi Li Feldman
Heidi Li Feldman
Heidi Li Feldman
Lawyers!
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62170259