HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Controversy Erupts At A T14 Law School Over How (Or Even Whether) To Mourn Justice Scalia.
At Georgetown University Law Center, controversy has broken out over the law school’s press release, Georgetown Law Mourns the Loss of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. It went out on Saturday, February 13, the day that Justice Scalia’s death made the news. After the long weekend, on Tuesday, February 16, two longtime professors at Georgetown, Gary Peller and Louis Michael Seidman, basically issued a dissent (originally sent just to Dean William Treanor and the faculty, then later cleared for dissemination to the student body). . . .
As noted by Blake Neff of the Daily Caller, “It’s hardly surprising that Peller cares little for Scalia. Peller’s own academic work is rooted in critical race theory and critical legal studies, two fields that can only be described as solidly on the political left. A major part of Peller’s work is denying the very existence of objective knowledge or the value of concepts like rationality, on the grounds that knowledge is just ‘a function of the ability of the powerful to impose their own views.’”
It might not be surprising, but it is disappointing. I’m with Jill Switzer aka Old Lady Lawyer, who has called for civility in the wake of Justice Scalia’s passing: “What do we, as lawyers, do to model collegial behavior? We can talk about ‘civility’ and ‘professionalism ad nauseam, but unless we practice what we preach, those terms are just words, and we’re very good with words.”
Law professors aren’t ordinary lawyers; as educators, they have a special duty to demonstrate to their students the values of collegiality, professionalism, and respect for differing viewpoints. As one Georgetown Law source put it, “This is not what admitted students want to see when deciding between Georgetown and other T14 schools. An intolerant professor lecturing on the intolerance of a Justice.”
So what was the point of Professor Peller’s message? It seems he wanted to make clear that he is not part of the “Georgetown Community” mourning Justice Scalia: “That ‘community’ would never have claimed that our entire community mourns the loss of J. Scalia, nor contributed to his mystification without regard for the harm and hurt he inflicted. That community teaches critique, not deference, and empowerment, not obsequiousness.”
I think Professor Peller is being a bit of a drama queen.
I think that’s a safe bet. But if there is no such thing as objective knowledge, why should I care what Peller thinks about Scalia, the “powerful,” or anything else? All together now: Sez who? And “Sez Gary Peller” isn’t much of an answer.
But, really, this is all just lefty virtue-signalling, and worthy of no more than mild, dismissive contempt. And bravo for Dean Treanor for giving it, essentially, just that.