We’ve focused a lot on Biglaw’s response to the George Floyd killing. As an institution that skews “little-c” conservative, reflecting the corporate community it serves while tempered by the risk-averse instincts of attorneys, the Biglaw response paints a picture of how this may really be an inflection point in the country.
Law schools are issuing statements as well, though by and large we expect academia to be more inclined to express support for social reform. But that slack we cut them isn’t entirely earned. Which is why the Michigan Law response from Dean Mark D. West struck a chord. Not so much for what it said, but for how it strained to, functionally, apologize for having to say anything about racial injustice at all.
Judging from the four corners of the statement, Dean West says a lot of the right things. He discusses the “disparity in policing and criminal justice,” the “responsibility of all in our community to confront these disparities,” and outlining a reconstituted Educational Environment Committee and some recent hires. Could there be more? Certainly. Law firm statements have outlined more specific forward-looking diversity initiatives, sponsored pro bono efforts, and offered mental health resources for folks dealing with present traumatic stress. In fact, the Michigan BLSA, burdened with doing the work that no one else at Michigan has done for years, proposed a number of concrete reforms.
Merely joining Mitt Friggin’ Romney in being able to say “Black Lives Matter,” something the statement failed to do, would be a big step. Just being better than nothing doesn’t make it enough.
But let’s focus on one paragraph from the statement that generated a lot of ire that the dean may not have foreseen:
The Law School has a long-standing policy against making statements regarding events that happen outside the Quad. That’s especially true when students aren’t on campus in the summer, and even more so when the President of the University has issued a statement. Broad statements can seem superficial and irrelevant to your concerns, and if frequent, the efficacy of the messages decreases over time. So in this case, in accordance with our policy, I had no plan to issue a statement. And that’s what I did for a week.
This got a lot of students and faculty wondering… why? Why does a law school institutionally eschew commenting on the broader society it supposedly serves? Why does the law school think police brutality and racism are exclusively “outside the Quad” issues? Why would “Black Lives Matter” qualify as a superficial statement? The #MLawLoud hashtag on Twitter gathers a lot of the concern over this statement but also offers a place for students to “share their experiences, amplify each other’s voices, and organize” generally.
West probably wanted to convey how seriously he took the issue that it would prompt breaching this long-standing policy, but on the page it comes across as if the school is apologizing for the fact that it has to interrupt everyone’s day to dare to say that racism is bad. And that mindset is indicative of a more deeply rooted problem that inflicts more institutions than just Michigan Law.
A student posted an exchange she had with Dean West about this concern, and his response highlights this blindspot:
The slippery slope rides again!
No, you don’t have to issue statements over every injustice, you just have to not apologize for saying something about an injustice that’s sparked the most widespread societal response in years. This isn’t three-dimensional chess here. And, yeah, saying something about white supremacy shouldn’t have required a mass uprising, but now that it’s here the least one can do is admit that it’s genuinely worthy of comment.
Also, maybe don’t even allude to the possibility that it could be in the same ballpark as someone asking about “black-on-white murders.”
I mean… seriously?
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.