4 ms·

Yeah; I get suspicious about these outrage flareups that are conveniently vague about what actually happened, especially when they're targeting obscure academic

Yeah; I get suspicious about these outrage flareups that are conveniently vague about what actually happened, especially when they're targeting obscure academics or mid-level administrators rather than people who wield serious institutional power (Steinbach's title was apparently "Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion", i.e. not "the" dean of a school or department).

tivert 3y ago
> Yeah; I get suspicious about these outrage flareups that are conveniently vague about what actually happened This is just the latest event in a longer controversy. IIRC, this is the "is the juice worth the squeeze" lady. When one law student group invited a judge to speak that other law students disagreed with, those other students prevented him from speaking through persistent heckling. In the middle of it, this dean got up a person of authority to "calm" the situation, but validated the hecklers instead. The whole event cause a lot of discussion about the "heckler's veto" universities and students becoming ideologically closed-minded and unable to even tolerate views and people outside a narrow orthodoxy, etc. One particularly interesting observation was: we're talking about law students here, whose future job will require them to be able to make arguments compelling to judges they may disagree with, and that requires them to be able to engage constructively with ideas and people the disagree with. If the law school tolerates this kind of heckling behavior, it's doing a disservice to its students and their future clients.
- jrm4 3y ago
  That is sad, and unnecessary. I'm recalling a time when Dinesh D'Souza came to speak and we all went to watch. We let him speak, and then one of my awesome classmates absolutely obliterated his deeply stupid and terrible arguments during question and answer. That is the proper way to deal with these sorts.

tivert 3y ago

> Yeah; I get suspicious about these outrage flareups that are conveniently vague about what actually happened This is just the latest event in a longer controversy. IIRC, this is the "is the juice worth the squeeze" lady. When one law student group invited a judge to speak that other law students disagreed with, those other students prevented him from speaking through persistent heckling. In the middle of it, this dean got up a person of authority to "calm" the situation, but validated the hecklers instead. The whole event cause a lot of discussion about the "heckler's veto" universities and students becoming ideologically closed-minded and unable to even tolerate views and people outside a narrow orthodoxy, etc. One particularly interesting observation was: we're talking about law students here, whose future job will require them to be able to make arguments compelling to judges they may disagree with, and that requires them to be able to engage constructively with ideas and people the disagree with. If the law school tolerates this kind of heckling behavior, it's doing a disservice to its students and their future clients.

jrm4 3y ago
That is sad, and unnecessary. I'm recalling a time when Dinesh D'Souza came to speak and we all went to watch. We let him speak, and then one of my awesome classmates absolutely obliterated his deeply stupid and terrible arguments during question and answer. That is the proper way to deal with these sorts.