Trent Colbert

Trent Colbert: The Trap House Party (Yale Law)

• October 13: First Story--Washington Free Beacon

October 13

• • "Yale Law School’s Free Speech Blunder Bolsters the Federalist Society’s Victim Mentality," Slate, MARK JOSEPH STERN. "Yale’s move here was unwise through the lens of free speech; even if we assume the school’s intentions were pure—which is open to debate—its response was wrong, full stop."

October 14

• "The Latest (Ridiculous) Controversy at Yale Law School 'Cancel culture' gets crazier," David Lat.

• "Opinion: At Yale Law School, a party invitation ignites a firestorm," Ruth Marcus, The Washington Post.

• A Black Student's reply

• The Daily Mail (London) storyy with pictures of Eldik and Cosgrove.

• "The Yale Law School Email Controversy: An Interview With Trent Colbert", David Lat.

• Excerpts by Volokh from the Koppelman gated Chronicle article.

• FIRE articles are October 14 and Yale's repudiation of the Woodward Report and the October 15 suggested prewritten apology for Yale to sign.

October 18

• Dean Gerken's bland email to the Yale Law community.

• First Generation Professionals, Yale, statement against Colbert. "We appreciate Yaseen’seffort to educate Trent and repair harm within the YLS community as well as Dean Gerken’semail this morning." What email is that?

• "Convulsions at Yale Law School: Administrators Do Damage Control as Faculty Members Slam School’s Dishonesty," Free Beacon:

...corporate legal scholar Roberta Romano, threatened to "correct the record" if the law school did not do so itself. The administration's actions toward Colbert, Romano wrote Krozner, are "in direct and total conflict with what you stated," noting that the school's diversity director had made "a sly threat" about the student's career.

"Please correct the record," she added. "I would not want to have to do it for you."

Another Yale Law professor, who asked to remain anonymous, said the initial statement was "appallingly disingenuous and full of falsehoods." Yale Law School "stated ‘no student is investigated or sanctioned for protected speech,'" the professor told the Free Beacon. "It's hard to square that statement with the Dean of Student Affairs summoning a student for questioning in response to allegations by other students, with the Diversity Director ominously warning the student that if he doesn't apologize his admission to the bar could be threatened, or with the Law School sending a message to the entire second-year class condemning the student's email as ‘racist.' If all that isn't an ‘investigation,' then it's even worse—a pronouncement of guilt without investigation."

October 19

• • Email from Yale Law student sparks national discussion on racism and free speech," Yale Daily News.

• • Josh Blackman at VC on moral fitness for the bar

• • Emma Perez blogpost.

To be clear, legal institutions have caused violence long before the Federalist Society, and even those who disavow the organization perpetuate white supremacy, racial capitalism, and patriarchy. The law as it is currently constructed is, by default, a tool of domination; it requires serious effort to use the law as a tool for harm reduction, much more as a tool for liberation.

• • APALSA law school Wall statement

Dear W’all, The APALSA Board would like to build on the messages sent by theDred Scott Society, FGP, YLW, and BLSA to support and affirmthe message of our classmate Marina Edwards. It is critical for us as Asian American and Pacific Islander students to work in solidaritywith our peers – especially our Black peers who have been disproportionately impacted by this community harm and taken on disproportionate labor to repair it – to underscore the impact that this incident has had on our YLS community.

October 20

• Volokh on language

• "Yale Law School Students to Media: ... :Asian-American student group says comparisons to Maoist China are 'offensively racist',"Aaron Sibarium, Washington Free Beacon. Various student groups attack Colbert.

• Prof. Christakis tweet

• Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic