In recent years, there has been much discussion of the claims of “trauma” by students caused by court rulings and other events. These developments are often cited as a basis for the cancellation of exam or classes. Conservative speakers, case decisions, and protests have all been cited in the past for such demands as well as the creation of therapy tents and trauma counseling. Now, editors of the Columbia Law Review (and editors of other journals) have called for the outright cancellation of exams due to the trauma of watching recent protests on campus. This is indeed a learning moment. Law students need to be able to face such moments without shutting down due to the stress. Our profession is filled with stress and trauma. It is the environment in which we operate. In those moments, we do not have the option of being a no-show. We make our appearance and speak for others.
Such claims have been commonplace. Black Harvard and Georgetown law students demanded exam cancellation after the death of Michael Brown in 2014. Administrators and faculty foster these claims by calling free speech “harmful” and “triggering” for students.
Students have also complained of the trauma of taking classes by faculty who do not recognize “white privilege” or classes that touch on certain crimes. After Trump was elected in 2016, universities set up “safe areas” and trauma tents for students.
The editors of the Columbia Law Review are virtually guaranteed their picks of top jobs after graduation. Yet, they told the law school that the clearing of the unauthorized encampment constituted traumatic “violence” that left them “irrevocably shaken” and “unable to focus.” They were joined by editors of five other law journals, including the Columbia Human Rights Law Review & A Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual.
They portrayed the trauma as the appearance of counter protesters and police on campus, accusing a “white supremacist, neo-fascist hate group” of “storming” campus.
The Columbia students told the university that “many are unwell at this time and cannot study or concentrate while their peers are being hauled to jail.”
The law school has postponed exams due to the protests but has not cancelled the exams.
The students offered an alternative but not preferred option of allowing them to take exams pass/fail. However, they emphasized that “instituting an optional Pass/Fail policy is not really optional when employers will see that some students have grades and others do not… [T]his leaves room for the introduction of extreme bias into the hiring process.”
It is true that law firms are likely to look for students who can handle high-stress situations. This letter suggests the opposite of students at the very top of the Columbia law class.
More importantly, the question is how such law students are emotionally prepared for the pressures of practice when such protests shut them down and leave them “unable to focus.” However, they have been educated in systems that have fostered the sense of victimization or trauma from opposing views.
While often called the “trophy generation,” it sometimes seems like this is becoming the trauma generation. I do not blame these students. Teachers and administrators have reinforced this view. That was evident in the controversial cancelling of a federal judge at Stanford Law School last year.
The Stanford Federalist Society invited Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to speak on campus. It is a great opportunity to hear the views of one of the highest ranked judicial officers in the country. However, liberal students decided that allowing a conservative judge to speak on campus is intolerable and set about to “deplatform” him by shouting him down. It was reminiscent of an equally disgraceful event at Yale Law School when another conservative speaker was similarly canceled — the law students then objected to the fact that campus police were present.
In this event, Duncan was planning to speak on the topic: “The Fifth Circuit in Conversation with the Supreme Court: Covid, Guns, and Twitter.” A video shows that the students prevented Duncan from speaking and the judge asked for an administrator to be called in to allow the event to proceed.
Dean Tirien Steinback then took the stage and, instead of simply demanding that the students allow for the event to proceed, Steinback launched into a babbling attack on the judge for seeking to be heard despite such objections.
Steinbach explained “I had to write something down because I am so uncomfortable up here. And I don’t say that for sympathy, I just say that I am deeply, deeply uncomfortable.”
Steinbach declared “It’s uncomfortable to say that for many people here, you’re work has caused harm.” After a perfunctory nod to free speech, Steinbach proceeded to eviscerate it to the delight of the law students. She continued “again I still ask, is the juice worth the squeeze?” “Is it worth the pain that this causes, the division that this causes? Do you have something so incredibly important to say about Twitter and guns and Covid that that is worth this impact on the division of these people.”
These students have spent years with such faculty telling them that they are fragile, vulnerable victims. However, our clients are often victims with traumatic injuries that must be addressed. Securing an equally vulnerable and triggered lawyer is not going to help them much.
Outside of the Columbia Law Review offices is a thing called life. It is neither predictable nor comfortable. We enter the lives of our clients when they are often failing apart. We have to bring our skills and support at those moments without the assistance of a trauma tent or emotional coach. We also cannot ask judges for postponements to allow us to process the stress of the moment.
This is not meant to be another “buck up buttercup” dismissal. I understand that the campus faced disruption and that many feel deeply about the underlying issues. That passion is needed. Young lawyers should be motivated to right wrongs in this world. I also understand that many of these law students likely had friends who were arrested or involved in the protests. However, our clients look to us for strength not fragility in such moments.
The response from Columbia Law School should be simple: see you at the exams.
think about this; these little pansy morons will be running this nation in a decade if they are not restricted, re-educated and brought head on in to civility, (something their parents failed to do) and if not then they should be quarantined like lepers as they most definitely pose a threat to society. personally; I think they are unsaveable at this point. sorry for all the typos but just shattered my right elbow 2 weeks ago and typing with left hand…
Whimsicalmama,
Well said.
Sorry to hear about the arm. I wish you a speedy recovery!
thank you
@whimsicalmama
Me too. Feel better.
I shared this article on Facebook and they REMOVED IT…SAID IT WAS SPAM! 🙁
@Anonymous
Unless you are sharing on X, forget it. They will censor you, every time. Understand that it is software doing it; there is no person around pushing buttons. They program their algorithms very intentionally, and what you end up with is pretty much what they consider to be a spam filter. There are no actual human beings reviewing anything you post. And bear in mind that Facebook bought Instagram years ago; those of you that think you found an alternative in the ‘Gram: no, you didn’t. Same company, same rules, you are essentially using Facebook. And you signed the legally binding Terms of Service to participate. It is all legal and above board. don’t like it? then push for change or switch services, because their butts are legally covered. You agree to it willingly simply by signing up.
To denounce the goals of the fundamentalist Jews to ethnically cleanse what they call “Judea and Samarra” of all Arabs….would you call that anti-semitic? I wouldn’t. It’s on the same level as the militant Palestineans lusting for “from the river to the sea”. Both represent fringe zealotry of the type you never want to gain leadership power. It was a huge mistake for Gazans to elect Hamas in 2006. Similarly, it was a tragedy for the current Israeli govt. to have formed a coalition of Bibi with the hard-core settler movement.
Lesson for Americans: Avoid electing uber-self-righteous zealots. Beware of fantasy-thinking in any wanna-be leader. Go for the sober, stable, intellectually-modest, honest public servant. Reject the high-functioning psychopath wearing an expensive suit with “charisma”. Look deep for trustworthiness. Boring and competent.
It speaks volumes about this generation.
Let me see how to answer this. I started high school (8th grade) in Sept. 1961 and graduated from Emory University in June 1970. In that time we never had exams cancelled in High School or College. That was despite the Bay of Pigs invasion 1961, the Cuban Missile crisis 1962, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, The assassination of President Kennedy (1963), The Assassination of RFK (1968), The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968) The riots around the Democratic National Convention (1968), The 6 day War (1967), The TeT offensive (1968), The Prague Spring and it’s crushing by the Warsaw Pact (1968), plus hurricanes, tornadoes, Ice storms (Atlanta had little snow but specialized in very ugly ice storms) and 1 particular Ice Storm which occurred during exams at Emory and shut down the city but no exams were cancelled at Emory. I remember because I and my 3 carpool buddies made a 3 hour drive from the Cascade Heights area in Southwest Atlanta to Northeast Atlanta and Emory. Mainly our trip consisted of driving short distances, stopping and getting out and moving wrecked cars out of the way so we could press on to our appointed task. We made it late to Emory but the Professors did agree to extend the allowed times that day for us to complete the exams but no cancellations. We did have high school classes suspended on the day of JFK’s funeral and Emory suspended classes on the day of MLK Jr.’s funeral.
Life is stress and the sooner you learn the coping mechanisms to deal with that fact, the better off you will be.
It’s really a very simple formula. As soon as we are born, the universe starts trying to kill us and someday it will succeed, always. Deal with it. It’s basically the information we physicians often have to give to patients. You try not to be brutal but still straightforward and honest. It’s difficult to deliver and sometimes even harder to receive.
I left out Medical School, Residencies, and Fellowships where the stress was even worse. We averaged close to 1-2 suicide attempt per year during residency/fellowship time.
I realize there are problems even yet with suicides in medical schools and residency training programs. That problem is only going to get worse if these children don’t learn how to manage themselves in a hostile world.
I suspect Law is similar.
A few years after your graduation, air raid drills were common exercises in our classes along with fire drill…these people have NO clue what “stress” is…I pity them once they arrive in the REAL WORLD.
Anonymous said: “A few years after your graduation, air raid drills were common exercises”
I am about 3 years GEB’s junior, and where I’m from we started having air raid drills that consisted of cowering under our desks in 5th or 6th grade, 1960 or 61. Civil Defense Administration posters, some warning of the danger of nuclear war, and instructing on what do to on (rather weak and futile) methods to ensure personal safety were plastered all over Inot only in the school). One of those instrucitons was “4. Duck and Cover / Place newspaper over head” (seriously):
https://imgur.com/563ypdj
There was a parody of that instruction set published in the latter part of 1960s that had a substitute set of instructions:
-Bend over.
-Put your head between your knees.
-Grab your ankles.
-And kiss your a$$ good bye.
Yes, it wasn’t exactly a time that was conducive to the peace of mind of a kid, who was forced to wonder if he would get the opportunity to grow up, let alone prosper. While I agree that these stupid kids would learn what real trauma is by experiencing some of that, as much as I resent their actions, I wouldn’t wish that experience on them.
Reply to Number6.-Yes we had the air raid drills also, dive under the desk or hover by the wall under the large windows which spanned one whole side of the room. I also did not mention the draft during Viet Nam even though my number was not good. Fail or finish college and you were drafted. Unless you went to med school. 50-75 % of the men in my high school class served in the military and most went to Viet Nam . All came back, though many were damaged one way or the other. I was extremely fortunate.
Also did not mention being in Mannheim Germany when the Hungarian Revolt was raging in 1956 and the US Army Europe was on high alert. We sat by the radio and listened to reports (no TV) from Budapest.
I drew a fortuitous #326 in the draft lottery, which allowed me to finally drop out of college. College was a good thing for those who knew what kind of profession or livelihood they wished to pursue; I did not, and I knew full well that college for me at that point would be a complete waste of time and other resources. My parents, however, had a college fund set side since I was 6 yo, so I wasn’t given an option. NTM that I was not so dedicated to independence from my parents that I was about to allow myself to be conscripted into involuntary rice paddy cannon fodder servitude, if I could help it. I consider myself very fortunate; I had a few of friemds who were not as lucky, and who came back damaged for life, or did not come back at all.
@GEB: Re:”Let me see how to answer this….” Yah! I remember the Embryology quarterly exam which was held, as scheduled on November 25th, 1963. Prof said.. “I know it was a tough weekend. Do your best”. This notwithstanding the fact that both the nation’s President and his assassin were murdered, the nation was upside down and glued to their radios and TV’s, the show had to go on. I would have been a consideration to set it back a day or two, even a week. Certainly not the considerations these Law Review ;snots’ are lobbying for…but ‘No’. What was good for this old goose is surely good for them.
To them, I’d say: Listen to the song “Pressure” by Billy Joel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyv905Q2omU
These weenies want “trauma”, let them live in a bunker during monsoon, walk a hostile jungle on patrol, storm a beach, drive a vehicle on a mined road, get ambushed in a mountain village. It’s time to take the gloves off these babies, draft the little Beestards not for 2 years but 3. They’ll get all the tents, helmets and gas masks they can handle but for real.
There are numerous articles and opinions drawing parallels with today’s campus riots with demonstrations of the 60s. This is in spite of the fact that those in the 60s were largely youth subject to the draft and opposing public policy dependent upon the draft while today’s rioters are largely poorly educated bigots that appear to be puppets. I can assure you from first hand experience, there was never any thought given to ‘cancellation of exams’ thus demonstrating yet another unparalleled feature of today’s circumstances with the 60s.
Listen up ‘trophy generation’, YOUR university is supposed to provide a safe environment in order for YOU to participate in all activities YOU have paid for directly and WE have paid for indirectly. They don’t do that, then you DEMAND that they do. And if they do not comply you sue their incompetent leadership and faculty for all present and future damages as a result of their failing their duties. You forego examinations and you will be announcing to the world for the rest of your life that you are no better than the least competent in your group. And who gets the best end of that deal? You or the least competent?
@Anonymous
That’s the thing, people were protesting something real in the 60s: the draft, America’s presence in foreign conflict, real civil rights, etc. These snowflakes are less protesting than temper-tantruming crises manufactured by their own minds.
I disagree with the Professor – these kids showed up to college *already* coddled, unstable, and irrevocably fragile (not to mention supremely ignorant and deficient), and they won’t likely ever be able to participate in society or a world where it turns out they are not all that matters, not even a little bit. Past a certain age, that is no longer the fault of anyone else; we all have brains and the ability to use them.
The arrests are likely the best thing that’s ever happened to them, representing the consequences their parents and milieu have failed to provide their entire lives. It was inevitable.
James,
There is one upside to this: A gross display of these snowflakes character, or lack there of. They are telling us exactly what kind of people they are.
@Upstate
Very much agreed. 👍🏼
James said: “That’s the thing, people were protesting something real in the 60s: the draft, America’s presence in foreign conflict, real civil rights, etc. These snowflakes are less protesting than temper-tantruming crises manufactured by their own minds.”
NTM another difference – the reluctance of the affected colleges to call in the police to disband the trespassing demonstrators. In my day, it didn’t even require any political content for that to happen. Although I’m from the East, my freshman year of college I ended up at a college in Western Missouri, just E of KC. One very warm night, some frat members and male GDI (independent) students, including me, decided to have a panty raid on one of the girls’ dorms. Someone at the school called out the riot squad. Literally. Cops were lined up shoulder to shoulder, equipped with helmets, shields, and riot sticks, moving in unison to clear the quad. A cop with a bull horn read us the Missouri Riot Act, and told us that if we did not disperse and return to our own dorm rooms immediately, they were going to tear gas us. I don’t know if that was something they had drilled on to prepare for civil rights demonstrations, and viewed us as ideal practice subjects, or what, but it was quite an unanticipated and educational experience, and very unlike what I’m reading about how these students are currently treated.
@Number 6
Decent points, all around. But a panty raid is a far cry from taking over entire swaths of the campus, making absurd and beyond infantile demands (give me my nutritional baby formula, like mom makes it! Waa!), and it’s actually an insult to the protestors of the past that actually had something to protest. These kids are just infantile, ignorant, privileged, and to their own disconnected concept of reality, they are that in a country that to the extent they remain peaceful – perfectly allows it. Stop pretending that you have anything in common with these kids, you don’t, and they’d be the first to throw something at you if you showed up and tried to share your wisdom. They are toddlers, and they are toddlers that need to go to jail. The police will spank them in the way their parents should have, even metaphorically. 😐 Unless you are very old, this is GOING to come home to roost for you, too.
“See you at the exams” – can you imagine? But I don’t believe Columbia has the backbone for such clarity. Instead, there will be clutching of pearls, “poor dears, we should have posted a trigger warning that taking an exam during tough times is hard!” Yet again, we postpone adulting until these same people are demanding loan forgiveness while collecting social security. Failure is always an option, young lawyers-to-be. Buckle down, study diligently, and earn your outcomes the hard way. PS Not to employers: Hire an athlete, and you won’t have these troubles.
Life comes at you fast.
Grow up.
I wonder how many universities cancelled exams during World War II.
What’s next? Cancel the election?
Wouldn’t be too surprised.
The organizers of these violent riots, are the same identified individuals that organized the summer of love.
These riots are on the planning table, to extend outside of collage campuses. The Democrat Convention will look like 1968. Riots will continue on into the fall and swing state will again abandon election law, and hundreds of thousands of illegal votes, will again be part of elections that should not be certified.
No matter how hard you sell the role of lawyers, or the almost celestial importance of the Law, it rings hollow to the vast majority of the American people. We see the transformation of the Law into a weapon for political power. We have witnessed its use to legitimize the most abusive actions of government. We are beginning to understand that the Law no longer represents Justice but is the playground of despotic wannabes in black robes who govern us from their thrones. To Hell with Columbia. To Hell with its students. The last thing this nation needs is more product from this and similar institutions.
The Columbia Law School ranked 8th overall in a number of rankings.
Faculty should be concerned as to the impact of the curriculum evaluation (Exam Scores) as a contributor to overall performance of the School.
To Test or not to Test? That is the Question.
Test, Exams must be held in order to maintain integrity of the Schools Standing and quantify performance.
Moving to Pass/Fail or Audit will not work – it results in insufficient data.
Cancelling Exams – complete waste of Time & Effort, Facilities, and Expenses.
Aws: Test
https://testmaxprep.com/lsat/top-law-school-rankings
It is called “life.” Get over yourselves.
There were lots of anarchists across Europe in the early 1900’s…then the Fascism came in the 20’s and 30’s.
See the parallels…THEY WANT Total Government with Large Businesses to CONTROL every aspect of your life!
As I mentioned on this blog last week, the “real” reason for all this protesting is for many students to avoid having to take final exams. When things quiet down, look for negotiations for amnesty and forgiveness of exams and all sorts of things in return for peace. Finding a convenient way to do this was needed and the Israeli-Hamas conflict provided that. But in the process, it revealed a lot of dormant antisemitism that now has to be dealt with by woke school administrators unaccustomed to having their liberal policies questioned. Ha!
So the Soros anarchist arm of the Democrat Party…is succeeding
LOL
Time to END Federal Aid to Colleges. Let Democrats fund their OWN Failures!
Well the Muslim Minouche Shafik made quick work of destroying Columbia
She became president of Columbia University on July 1, 2023. Her inauguration occurred on October 4, 2023.
Imagine PAYING $90k a year…to have year MADE worthless by Democrat Terrorists!
Another day, another group of silly left wing clowns to report on.
It’s not really another group – it’s just a re-grouping of the usual suspects pivoting to the outrage-du-jour, as it were.