The president of the Federalist Society chapter at Stanford University has urged school officials to do more to protect free expression on campus after a Louisiana-based federal appeals court judge was heckled and shouted down during a speech this month.
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan attempted to speak to Stanford Law School students about “COVID, Guns and Twitter” during an event sponsored by the Federalist Society chapter on March 9. According to accounts, the talk ended 40 minutes earlier than scheduled due to audience disruptions by those who disagreed with the judge’s conservative views.
Amid the disruptions, the university’s associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, Tirien Steinbach, temporarily replaced Duncan on the podium and gave a speech that at times seemed to promote the views of hecklers in the audience.
Two days later, Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and the dean of the law school, Jenny Martinez, sent an apology letter to Duncan, saying that the disruptions were not in line with university free-expression policies.
“What happened was inconsistent with our policies on free speech, and we are very sorry about the experience you had while visiting our campus,” the letter states. “... In addition, staff members who should have enforced university policies failed to do so, and instead intervened in inappropriate ways that are not aligned with the university’s commitment to free speech.”
The university officials pledged to take steps to ensure that such incidents do not happen in the future, but the Federalist Society chapter president, Tim Rosenberger Jr., called the apology an important but incomplete first step in protecting invited speakers.
“While I appreciate them extending an apology to the judge, to my knowledge not one person from the mob that silenced his talk and shouted sexually violent abuse at him has offered an apology,” Rosenberger told the Louisiana Record in an email. “Indeed, the vast majority are not even pretending to show contrition, with some publishing a letter describing this debacle as Stanford Law School ‘at its best.’”
He added that Dean Martinez understands the need to address the issue and recognizes that the problem is bigger than enforcement of university policies.
“Instead, something is fundamentally disordered in the culture of our school when people treat each other with such hatred and contempt,” Rosenberger said.
One group that responded with alarm to the Stanford incident was the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which sent a letter calling on the school to reaffirm its “commitment to expressive rights for all.”
“Stanford didn't respond directly to our letter but publicly apologized within hours of receiving it,” Alex Morey, FIRE’s director of campus rights advocacy, told the Record. “They also reaffirmed a commitment to free expression. The real test will be whether those apologies or policies will translate into action.”
If Stanford becomes beset by such misconduct and illiberal values, the result would be a threat to the nation’s democratic values, Morey said.