My alma mater this week correctly rejected the woke mob.
On Tuesday, George Washington University took a stand for academic freedom and refused to cave to those calling for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas‘s constitutional law seminar at the university’s law school to be canceled.
The university noted that “many of the requests” from “some members of the university and external communities” cited Thomas’s concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, in which the Supreme Court rightly overturned the landmark abortion cases Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Thomas justifiably criticized the idea of “substantive due process” and labeled it “legal fiction.”
“Because we steadfastly support the robust exchange of ideas and deliberation, and because debate is an essential part of our university’s academic and educational mission to train future leaders who are prepared to address the world’s most urgent problems, the university will neither terminate Justices Thomas’s employment nor cancel his class in response to his legal opinions,” stated the university in an email to members of the GWU community.
That statement is what every academic space, especially universities, should be about: debating ideas and tolerating dissent. Look no further than GWU saying the following in its email: “Like all faculty members at our university, Justice Thomas has academic freedom and freedom of expression and inquiry.”
The email went on to quote GWU’s academic freedom guidelines: “The ideas of different faculty members and of various other members of the University community will often and quite naturally conflict. But it is not the proper role of the University to attempt to shield individuals within or outside the University from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive.”
Go figure. Universities and other institutions should follow GWU’s lead and reject wokeness and cancel culture. Indeed, GWU should apply its own words and reverse its decision to cave to the woke mob and retire its “Colonials” moniker. Consistency is a must, even if refusing to revoke a seminar taught by one of the most influential minds in contemporary American legal thought is a good start.
Also, Jon Kay, the student responsible for starting this petition, might want to focus a little more on his studies. He’s majoring in philosophy, after all.
Jackson Richman is a journalist in Washington, D.C. Follow him @jacksonrichman.
