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Georgetown Law Center students have spoken out about the resignation of former professor Ilya Shapiro, who delivered his notice on Monday after what he called a “false investigation” into his controversial tweet about President Biden’s promise to name a woman black in the Supreme Court.
Georgetown fired Shapiro after reacting to a tweet lamenting that Biden would choose a “minor black woman” instead of his preferred option, Obama-appointed Judge Sri Srinivasan. Shapiro apologized and admitted that the “inartistic” comment could have been better said; Biden would nominate Ketanji Brown Jackson, fulfilling his promise to choose a black woman for the Supreme Court.
Georgetown Law Center dean William Treanor said, however, that the school would investigate whether Shapiro violated “anti-discrimination” policies and added in a message to students that Shapiro had used “degrading language.” Shapiro waited for his fate for months before being clarified about what he called in his resignation letter a “jurisdictional technicality,” as he was not officially an employee at the time of the tweet.
When the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Affirmative Action (IDEAA) completed its investigation and Shapiro was reinstated, the professor decided that he had had enough. In his letter to Dean William M. Treanor, he said his stay in school would be “unsustainable.”
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Travis Nix, who is starting his third year in Georgetown Law, called the dust “shame” and defended Shapiro.
“I thought everyone knew what he was trying to say in his original tweet,” Nix told Fox News Digital. “I was trying to say that the chief justice of the DC Court of Appeals was more qualified. He said it very naively, which he said, and he immediately apologized. I think it fits the values. Georgetown Jesuits, that when we make a mistake, we apologize, and that’s what he did right away, and most Georgetown students and the administration didn’t give him that grace and immediately called him a racist. , when I think it’s very clear what he meant in this tweet, and he said it very badly. ”
Prospective students tour the Georgetown University campus on July 10, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by AP / Jacquelyn Martin) ((Photo by AP / Jacquelyn Martin, file))
Shapiro called IDEAA’s investigation “false” in his resignation letter. Nix shared these feelings.
“I mean, it was completely absurd,” he said. “It took four months to tweet 180 characters.”
Rising third-year student Timothy Harper said the long investigation into Shapiro’s tweet “was not a good thing” for the institution.
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“From a practical standpoint, I guess pretty good, as they were able to calm the nerves of the students who were upset, and then push the topic forward until it couldn’t be so much of a problem when all the students, or most students are off-campus, “Harper told Fox News Digital. “From the point of view of honesty, I don’t think it’s a good thing for the school, just because it basically seems like if enough students get mad at you for something you’ve said, then the school treats you like a kind of second-class teacher. “
While Nix and Harper are on the right, Rafael Nuñez, a second-year student who is center-left, said Treanor was in a difficult position and probably “didn’t want to fire” Shapiro. But as an institution, Núñez said the global situation was “terribly managed.”
The Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC (Photo AP / J. Scott Applewhite, file)
Nix sounded specifically to the administration for not doing “anything” in response to the behavior of some students; Left-wing students in February dried up and made widespread demands that did not stop with Shapiro’s dismissal.
“Oh, it was frankly a shame the way they handled it,” Nix added. “The dean’s immediate reaction was to call his tweet racist. Then radical student groups began to dry up and demand everything from free pizza as a form of repair and a place to cry. they did nothing to repress them. “
In his tweet tweeting his resignation letter, Shapiro stated that Georgetown no longer values free speech, a statement that some students questioned.
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“I think, I hope Georgetown still values freedom of speech, it’s very right or not, whether they do,” Nix said of the administration. “I think they choose and they choose.”
“The administration, that’s a dark spot on the administration the way they handled it,” Nix said. “And they could have made a very strong commitment to free speech, saying that Ilya did not violate ours – because of our policy of free speech that we have very close and loved by us, that we will reinstate Ilya. But instead they made a cop – because of a technicality that the tweet was before his first day of work and therefore we can’t discipline him. ”
Nuñez said he opposed Shapiro’s initial tweet, but said he did not agree to calls to give him the boot.
“I thought it was a violation of the right to freedom of expression, because if a teacher [can’t]]say something you believe in or something you think is true to students or the world, and I thought, you know, what are we doing as a law institution? “he told Fox News Digital.
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U.S. Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg made a comment during a discussion organized by the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC, on September 12, 2019. (REUTERS / Sarah Silbiger.)
Although Nuñez said he would like Georgetown to have “more” teachers like Shapiro, circumstances did not bode well for his future at school. Shapiro himself noted in his resignation letter that the IDEAA indicated that if he made another controversial comment as an official employee, it could create a “hostile environment.”
“And I wish we had more teachers like Mr. Shapiro in Georgetown,” Nuñez said. “We don’t have many. But, you know, he would have laid the groundwork for his subsequent dismissal, because he now knows that his freedom of speech is not protected as a worker.”
“So he said he doesn’t want to be in an institution where he seems to be walking on eggshells, where he feels he can’t say what he really thinks, especially in a place where … freedom of speech is very important. , as in a law school you are teaching future generations of lawyers, “Nuñez added. “And so I totally agree with him, as if I wish he had stayed, I’m sorry he’s leaving.”
Shapiro was outspoken with Fox News Digital shortly after submitting his resignation, saying the institution was a “viper den”.
“What I’ve learned is that in the long or medium term, that wouldn’t be possible,” he said about working at Georgetown. “If my tweet hadn’t happened, something [else] would have gone through a comment on the affirmative action of the Supreme Court in the fall, something. “It’s a viper den,” he said.
Shapiro said he had specific employment plans that he was not free to discuss, but that he wanted to catch his breath and take a vacation. He also said he would not recommend Georgetown to students who might be in conflict with progressive orthodoxy.
“I’m sad that it all came out this way,” he said, adding: and other institutions pause. “
In a statement to Fox News Digital on Monday, a Georgetown spokesman did not address Shapiro’s letter directly, but defended his investigation.
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“Georgetown urges members of our community to engage in a strong, respectful dialogue. or the content of these, even when these ideas can be difficult, controversial or reprehensible, “the spokesman said. “While we protect speech and expression, we work to promote a civil and respectful discourse. In reviewing Mr. Shapiro’s conduct, the University followed the usual processes for Law Center staff members.”
Fox News’ David Rutz contributed to this report.
Cortney O’Brien is the editor of Fox News. Twitter: @ obrienc2