Alright, let’s do this one last time.
If that sentence sounds familiar, it might be because it’s the device used in Into The Spiderverse every time the film introduces another alternate dimension version of Spiderman, and the joke is that it’s “one last time” over and over and over again. The precise details always change, but in broad strokes, someone is always bitten by a radioactive spider (technically Peter Porker was a spider bitten by a radioactive pig, but I digress) and becomes a superhero.
That’s a decent analogy for the phenomenon of law schools dropping the n-word every few months. The precise details always change, but in broad strokes, someone is always invited to discuss the First Amendment and hate speech and feels the need to hurl out racial slurs lest the black students in the room not fully understand the gravity of hate speech.
And every time this happens, it’s heralded as some kind of one-off outlier. Until we do it again a few months later… one last time.
This time it was Caitlin Sewell, who was assistant general counsel at the University of North Texas, until an invitation to speak at an event on “understanding of civil discourse and the type of language protected under the First Amendment” and was bitten by the radioactive desire to explain the First Amendment by tossing around the n-word.
To Sewell’s credit, she resigned the next day, fully grasping that she’d made it untenable to continue working in an academic environment. That’s the kind of professional responsibility that doesn’t often show up in incidents like this — it’s not an excuse for doing it in the first place, but it should be recognized in a world where too many just double down.
“Gonna say a lot of offensive things in here, because it’s impossible to talk about the First Amendment without saying horrible things,” Sewell said during the discussion, which a student in the crowd recorded. “Um, you know, ‘You’re just a dumb n—-r and I hate you.’ That alone, that’s protected speech.”
Indeed, it is! It’s also entirely unnecessary to say it when making the point.
But the worst twist came later when astute observers noticed that Sewell was saying “f-word,” you know, so she wouldn’t offend anybody.
However, SGA Senator Daniel Ojo said afterwards that Sewell continued with her example and used the term “f-word” in an attempt to censor herself, but didn’t seem to worry about using the n-word.
“So, you didn’t censor the n-word, but you definitely censored f—,” Ojo said.
Yeah, that says a lot.
Whenever this comes up, there’s a cadre of hot-take artists ready to duke it out online about how professors need to be able to use literal examples of racial slurs in class or the education system will fall apart. Those folks are wrong, but let’s sidestep this question for a second.
Even if you ascribe to the worldview that academic discourse requires white people to use literal examples of hate speech to describe the First Amendment, why are we only ever hearing about the n-word? These days there doesn’t seem to be the burning desire to toss around anti-Semitic slurs. Or homophobic rhetoric. Or derogatory terms for women. These are all equally protected terms, yet they never seem to work their way into these examples.
If this really is just an academic exercise, why does it always have to be this specific example? Because that says a lot too.
University of North Texas lawyer resigns after using n-word at free speech panel [New York Post]
UNT System assistant general counsel says the n-word at “When Hate Comes to Campus” event [North Texas Daily]
Earlier: T14 Law School Professor’s Tradition Of Using The N-Word In Class
The Original Emory Law School N-Word-Using Professor Faces A Hearing On His Future Today
Welcome To Emory Law School — It’s Been 0 Days Since We Last Used The N-Word In Class
Why Can’t Emory Law School Professors Stop Using The N-Word All The Time?
Law School Professor Drops The N-Word In The First Week Of Class
Law School Professor Who Dropped The N-Word In Class Is Back At It
Law Professor Drops Racial Slur In Class Because Otherwise How Will Black Students Ever Learn About Racism?
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.