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There’s an effort to get me fired at Cornell for criticizing the Black Lives Matter Movement

There’s an effort to get me fired at Cornell for criticizing the Black Lives Matter Movement

Or if not fired, at least publicly denounced by the law school. Student groups plan to demand the law school “critically examine the views of the people they employ as professors of the law.”

There is an effort underway to get me fired at Cornell Law School, where I’ve worked since November 2007, or if not fired, at least denounced publicly by the school.

Ever since I started Legal Insurrection in October 2008, it’s been an awkward relationship given the overwhelmingly liberal faculty and atmosphere. Living as a conservative on a liberal campus is like being the mouse waiting for the cat to pounce.

For over 12 years, the Cornell cat did not pounce. Though there were frequent and aggressive attempts by outsiders to get me fired, including threats and harassment, it always came from off campus.

I made great efforts to keep this website separate from my work. I did not write about Cornell that frequently, and rarely about the law school itself. Nonetheless, the website and my political views were the elephant in every room, because the website is widely read, particularly by non-liberal students.Over the years, many students approached me privately and behind closed doors to express gratitude that someone was able to speak up, because they remained politically silent out of fear of social ostracization with the related possible career damage from falsely being accused of one of the “-ists” or “-isms.”

Not until now, to the best of my knowledge, has there been an effort from inside the Cornell community to get me fired.

The impetus for the effort was two posts I wrote at Legal Insurrection regarding the history and tactics of the Black Lives Matter Movement:

Those posts accurately detail the history of how the Black Lives Matters Movement started, and the agenda of the founders which is playing out in the cultural purge and rioting taking place now.

From Saturday, June 6, through Monday, June 8, over 15 emails from CLS alumni were received by the Dean of the law school, demanding that action be taken against me ranging from an institutional statement denouncing me to firing. I don’t know whether and to what extent that number has increased since Monday. The Dean properly has defended my writings as protected within my academic freedom, although he strongly disagrees with my views.

The effort appears coordinated, as some of the emails were in a template form. All of the emails as of Monday were from graduates within the past 10 years.

Only one of the emails was shared with me, with names removed, on the condition that I not post it or quote from it. I am permitted to characterize the complaint: My views are not consistent with the law school Dean’s public statement on police violence and my writings were hurtful and divisive, and the person could not understand why I am still on the faculty. [As an aside, my writings are consistent with the Dean’s statement, but that’s another matter.]

My clinical faculty colleagues, apparently in consultation with the Black Law Students Association, drafted and then published in the Cornell Sun on June 9 a letter denouncing “commentators, some of them attached to Ivy League Institutions, who are leading a smear campaign against Black Lives Matter.” While I am not mentioned by name, based on what I’ve seen BLSA and possibly others were told it was about me. The letter is absurd name-calling, distorting and even misquoting my writings, to the extent it purports to be about me. According to a document I’ve seen, the letter was shared with these students before it was published in the Cornell Sun.

None of the 21 signatories, some of whom I’d worked closely with for over a decade and who I considered friends, had the common decency to approach me with any concerns. Instead they ran to the Cornell Sun while virtue signaling to students behind the scenes that this was a denunciation of me. Such is the political environment we live in now at CLS.

BLSA and other groups are working on their own effort against me. Based on documents I’ve seen, there was consideration of demanding my firing, but it appears to have moved away from that not because they don’t want me fired, but “because calling for his firing would only draw more attention to his blog and bolster his platform, and we do not want to give him that satisfaction.” The plan is to call for “the law school to unequivocally denounce his rhetoric, acknowledge the harm caused by subjecting students to his racist pedagogy, and critically examine the views of the people they employ as professors of the law.” They plan to circulate the petition to the law school community and to “inform incoming students” of the situation.

I have little doubt that many students will sign because there is no choice in this environment. BLSA has announced on its Facebook page that “Silence Is Violence.” Who would refuse to sign when failure to sign would be deemed an act of violence?

I thank people who have voluntarily shared information with me, and if there are students, faculty or staff reading this, please feel free to forward information to me at [email protected]. This is not just about me. It’s about the intellectual freedom and vibrancy of Cornell and other higher education institutions, and the society at large.

Open inquiry and debate are core features of a vibrant intellectual community. This has been the way Cornell Law School operated for the 12 years I’ve been here, until now. In this toxic political environment in which intellectual diversity and differences of opinion are not tolerated, trying to shut down debate through false accusations of racism seems to be the preferred tactic.

I challenge a representative of those student groups and a faculty member of their choosing to a public debate at the law school regarding the Black Lives Matter Movement, so that I can present my argument and confront the false allegations in real time rather than having to respond to baseless community email blasts. I ask the law school to arrange an in-person live-streamed debate during fall term, or if for some reason the law school does not have in-person instruction, to arrange a ‘virtual’ format.

Throughout my legal and academic career spanning over three decades, there has never been a single instance in which I have been accused of discrimination toward any student, client or colleague. I have always treated my students as individuals, without regard to race, ethnicity or other such factors. I condemn in the strongest terms any insinuation that I am racist, and I greatly resent any attempt to leverage meritless accusations in hopes of causing me reputational harm. While such efforts might succeed in scaring others in a similiar position, I will not be intimidated.

We are living in extraordinarily dangerous times, reminiscent of the Chinese Communist Cultural Revolution, in which professors guilty of wrongthink were publicy denounced and fired at the behest of students who insisted on absolute ideological orthodoxy. It’s a way of instilling terror in other students, faculty, staff, and society, so that others shut up and don’t voice dissenting views. We are seeing monuments destroyed in Taliban-fashion because they represent an uncomfortable history, movies and TV shows cancelled, and individuals disappeared from employment due to even the slightest deviation from the prevailing political culture.

This is not going to end well unless people of good conscience, who support black lives but not the Black Lives Movement as it was founded and currently operates, to speak up and refuse to cower in fear.

UPDATE (4:45 p.m.):

The law school Dean, in response to media inquiries and emails, has released a statement that takes a shot at my posts but promises no discipline:

…. In light of this deep and rich tradition of walking the walk of racial justice, in no uncertain terms, recent blog posts of Professor William Jacobson, casting broad and categorical aspersions on the goals of those protesting for justice for Black Americans, do not reflect the values of Cornell Law School as I have articulated them. I found his recent posts to be both offensive and poorly reasoned…. But to take disciplinary action against him for the views he has expressed would fatally pit our values against one another in ways that would corrode our ability to operate as an academic institution.”

Of course, I did not criticize “those protesting for justice for Black Americans,” I criticized the Black Lives Matters Movement and the rioting and looting and cultural purge. But that’s how it goes. (added) And of course, you don’t see these sort of statements issued for far-left professors. We have one (who I happen to like) who was with Occupy Wall Street and is an advisor to AOC on the Green New Deal, but the school never publicly criticizes his “reasoning” — it’s a one way street and it’s just as much a part of the cancel culture as firing someone.

MY APPEARANCE ON LAURA INGRAHAM SHOW TONIGHT

MORE UPDATES

Cornell campus climate “so far beyond political correctness”

Jonathan Turley rips Cornell Law faculty letter against me: “It is the antipathy of the intellectual foundations for higher education”

[Featured Image: Me standing at Cornell ‘Take a Knee’ protest 2017]

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Comments


Moon Battery | June 11, 2020 at 8:48 am

Cancel culture strikes again!

    NGAREADER in reply to Moon Battery. | June 11, 2020 at 10:04 am

    The modern day version of the Brown Shirts.
    They want to play games, you may want to play games too.

      notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to NGAREADER. | June 11, 2020 at 12:31 pm

      Cornell better get ready for many statues falling on their heads and the town better prepare for being college free.

      Man Injured After Confederate Statue Falls on Head: ‘His Skull was Actually Showing’

      https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/06/man-injured-after-confederate-statue-falls-on-head-his-skull-was-actually-showing/

        notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital. | June 11, 2020 at 12:53 pm

        Psalm 46:10

        Be still, and know that I am God….

        Exodus 14:14

        The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.

        Exmodus 14:13

        But Moses told the people,

        Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

          No.
          God will not tie your shoelaces, wipe your nose or fight your battles here on Earth for you. You ask God to do that, He will respond by ending your existence here. Whether He respects your passivity in the next world is up to Him, not you. I suspect that “I want to be a victim!!” does not go over as well as some believe.

          The Yazidis tried that, as did the Jews at Sobibor, Treblinka and other places which the media/hollywood ogre did not publicize. There’s not much to say about a place where every story is the same: you come in, you are killed, your remains turn to ash and the ash itself is dispersed.

          notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital. | June 11, 2020 at 2:25 pm

          Those verses don’t say anything like that nor even anything near to that.

          notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital. | June 11, 2020 at 2:27 pm

          “…..for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again……”

          The Nile isn’t a river only found in EgyPT…….

          notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital. | June 11, 2020 at 2:34 pm

          BINGO!

          CORNELL IS COMMUNIST CHINA DIRTY – TAKING MILLIONS FROM THE COMMUNISTS.

          I CALL FOR THE FEDS TO FREEZE CORNELL ASSETS.

          https://www.google.com/search?q=cornell+china&oq=cornell+china&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l4.8440j0j7&client=ms-android-att-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

          notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital. | June 11, 2020 at 2:38 pm

          These are just two of many.

          Cornell researchers have received a $2.5 million grant to partner with a Chinese organic food company on ..

          Apply For China Research Grants (Spring 2020) | Cornell China Center

          Those verses don’t say anything like that nor even anything near to that.

          Actually they do. In that instance God explicitly told the Jews not to fight, not to try to save themselves in any manner, not even to pray to Him, but merely to passively wait for Him to fight for them. That is not license to do so in other circumstances; even where no other alternative remains one can at least pray.

          I CALL FOR THE FEDS TO FREEZE CORNELL ASSETS.

          On what grounds? There’s nothing illegal about applying for Chinese research grants.

        That jackass should not have assaulted the statute. Glad to hear that the statute successfully fought back.

    JusticeDelivered in reply to Moon Battery. | June 11, 2020 at 12:18 pm

    The best defense is a strong offense. Start fundraising. Seek backing for legal help. Sue the Fers and force public disclosure. How dare they try to dictate how you use these complaints! Perhaps create a website specifically exposing the individuals involved. It should stay up indefinitely, poisoning much of their future opportunities.

    Your, and lots of other people’s civil rights are under attack. This should have been squashed when they were attacking Zimmerman, and then Officer Wilson.

    Think big, launch an all out, very public, assault.

      notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to JusticeDelivered. | June 11, 2020 at 12:33 pm

      Can someone tweet this to President Trump?

      notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to JusticeDelivered. | June 11, 2020 at 1:31 pm

      Report from the Fruit Cake State:

      BTW: My friends and colleagues who live in Seattle tell me that the good citizens of Seattle would make their anti-mob opinions clear, but they fear they would be fired from their jobs.

      FIRE Legal Network:
      “FIRE’s mission is to defend and sustain the individual rights of students and faculty members at America’s colleges and universities. These rights include freedom of speech, freedom of association, due process, legal equality, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience—the essential qualities of liberty.”
      https://www.thefire.org/legal/fires-legal-network/

        Brian in reply to lc. | June 11, 2020 at 4:51 pm

        Outstanding suggestion! It’d generate publicity and in all likelihood results.

        Damn! I’m kicking myself for not having come up with that!

      Milhouse in reply to JusticeDelivered. | June 11, 2020 at 5:16 pm

      The best defense is a strong offense. Start fundraising. Seek backing for legal help.

      For what purpose? Surely you don’t think Cornell Law School of all institutions would be so foolish as to think it could get away with breaking its contract with Prof J, even if it were inclined to do so, which it isn’t.

      Sue the Fers and force public disclosure.

      On what grounds?

      How dare they try to dictate how you use these complaints!

      Why not? They didn’t have to show him them in the first place. Having agreed to do so they can put whatever conditions they like on it.

      Perhaps create a website specifically exposing the individuals involved. It should stay up indefinitely, poisoning much of their future opportunities.

      That would be good, if their identities were known.

      (From lc’s comment further down:)

      FIRE Legal Network:

      I’m sure they’re already on this and doing whatever they think they can usefully do. I don’t think they had to wait to read about it here on LI.

        JusticeDelivered in reply to Milhouse. | June 11, 2020 at 5:30 pm

        I have worked with lots of lawyers in may career, and even often respected those on the other side.

        But, in my experience most were not very good at thinking outside the box.

        That was my job, and most of the time I did succeed in eviscerating an adversary. I always attacked on more than one front. In one case that attack was to get their attorney disbarred. In another, fired.

        I think there is a civil rights case here, especially in light of the overall situation. And, I think that those making the complaints should be exposed and blackballed.

        One can nearly always find a cause to litigate and get discovery.

    Abortion culture: people deemed unworthy of life, people deemed unworthy of career, people deemed unworthy of civil rights… #wicked

      JusticeDelivered in reply to n.n. | June 11, 2020 at 5:33 pm

      Some people are unworthy of life, and quite often deserve a retroactive abortion. That is most certainly true of most murders.

    SAVE JACOBSON

    Topazinator in reply to Moon Battery. | June 11, 2020 at 3:19 pm

    The Ivy League continues to circle the drain; no, wait a minute, so-called “higher education” continues to circle the drain.

‘In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.’

-George Orwell

These people are making an in kind contribution to the Trump campaign.

Prove me wrong.

    MattMusson in reply to Petrushka. | June 11, 2020 at 1:17 pm

    Simple. If DJT wins in a landslide, it will just encourage radicals on campus to become more radical and more violent.

    Milhouse in reply to Petrushka. | June 11, 2020 at 5:19 pm

    I agree that this can only help the President’s reelection prospects, and thus makes the campaign’s job easier, but it’s not a contribution as such. A contribution in kind just means it’s paid in things other than cash, but it still has to be a contribution; something still has to be given to the campaign itself.

      JusticeDelivered in reply to Milhouse. | June 11, 2020 at 5:39 pm

      Dem actions drove me to Trump, based on hope that he might work out, Dems ongoing outright crazy actions, and Trumps track record have led me to complete support of Trump.

Well, you now have even fewer friends at the place where you work. That’s sad. On the other hand, senator Jacobson doesn’t sound that bad. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) you’d have to move to another state

    dystopia in reply to Obie1. | June 11, 2020 at 9:25 am

    Perhaps not fewer friends. In an era with the penumbra of authoritarian mob rule is descending upon us; many are afraid or unwilling to speak out. Their livelihoods are at stake. They risk becoming human sacrifices to the mob rulers.

    It’s 1968 all over again. This time with Communists manning the barricades of public office and university administrations.

      notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to dystopia. | June 11, 2020 at 12:34 pm

      A survey last year revealed that 97% of college professors had donated money to the Democrat Party.

Just lie the Chinese communists.

The law school will need a big new inscription over the entrance, with the Latin translation of “Don’t bother us with the truth.”

Colonel Travis | June 11, 2020 at 9:17 am

Stay strong, Prof.

Prayers that truth will come out and true justice will win…FWIW, my 84 yr old uncle was thrown out of Cornell in 1956 for refusing to cut his hair. He is still one of the most outrageously liberal people I have ever known. It might be in the water.

texansamurai | June 11, 2020 at 9:23 am

Professor–admire and support your conviction–doubt that all the cancel people would agree to public debate for if they did their true agenda would be revealed for the scam that it is

sounds as if you have reached a personal crossroads–perhaps a moment of pause would be appropos–have been in that place a few times myself and in those moments have reflected on something one of my grandfathers said to me when asked that famous question ” what is the meaning of this life? ”

a quiet man, a rancher like his father, he’d been to france and seen horror up close and for a long time, and had come back–his reply to my query is with me still:

” you have to decide who or what is the most important thing in this world to you–who or what are you willing to fight to protect, to die for if needs be?–that’s the ” why ” everything else is the ” how. ”

you seem clear on the ” why “–perhaps the ” how ” is really the only thing that needs to be worked out

It’s pitiful that a law school wouldn’t understand 1st amendment rights.
Not sure how they justify their actions here.
This is also more proof that they don’t want real diversity.
God bless, Prof!

    Virginia42 in reply to lc. | June 11, 2020 at 9:42 am

    It’s pitiful that Cornell doesn’t understand a bunch of unhinged Marxist tools when they hear them.

    fscarn in reply to lc. | June 11, 2020 at 11:09 am

    Oh, they understand 1A rights. They just don’t want you to have them. Ditto on 2A rights.

    Milhouse in reply to lc. | June 11, 2020 at 5:25 pm

    It’s pitiful that a law school wouldn’t understand 1st amendment rights.

    What makes you think that the law school doesn’t understand this perfectly well? Also, the first amendment isn’t directly implicated here, because Cornell is a private entity. But the principles are implicated, and the school remains committed to them.

    Not sure how they justify their actions here.

    What actions? The law school hasn’t taken any actions. And it’s already said it won’t comply with the demands, precisely because it understands the first amendment and is committed to its spirit. But also because even without that it’s bound by its contract with Prof J, and it knows it could never get away with breaking that.

You must be doing something right to cause this.

I appreciate the information on this website, and come back to it several times a day, and donated $100 a few months back to show my gratitude. Thank you for keeping the site going and stay strong!

TrickyRicky | June 11, 2020 at 9:24 am

I’m sure that you could see this coming. That doesn’t make it any easier to process, but at least the waiting is over. As Colonel Travis says, and I’m sure every denizen of your incredible blog seconds, Stay Strong Professor. We need your skills and insight to weather this fraught time in our nation’s history.

Yet again we see it. In The Coming of the Third Reich, historian Richard J. Evans explains how, in the early days of National Socialist Germany, Stormtroopers (Brownshirts) “organized campaigns against unwanted professors in the local newspapers [and] staged mass disruptions of their lectures.” To express dissent from Nazi positions became a matter of taking one’s life into one’s hands. The idea of people of opposing viewpoints airing their disagreements in a civil and mutually respectful manner was gone. One was a Nazi, or one was silent (and fearful).

Today’s fascists call themselves “anti-fascists,” and this BLM is just a variant. Just like the Nazis, they are totalitarian: they are determined not to allow their opponents to murmur the slightest whisper of dissent. Forcibly suppressing the speech of someone with whom one disagrees is a quintessentially fascist act.

These fascists will target you for destruction if you oppose any aspect of their plans for destruction.

    fscarn in reply to pfg. | June 11, 2020 at 10:20 am

    And they hit the roof when you point this out to them, that they themselves are the fascists. Over and over the comparison is made that Trump is Hitler. (Just like Bush was Hitler.) Yet Trump has followed the Constitution (largely anyway) whose purpose was/is to separate the powers precisely so that these powers cannot be consolidated which is the essence of tyranny.

    stevewhitemd in reply to pfg. | June 11, 2020 at 10:34 am

    There is a saying in Italy: “In Italy there are two kinds of fascists, fascists and anti-fascists.”

Jonathan Cohen | June 11, 2020 at 9:25 am

Have you gotten any support from colleagues? This situation strikes me as one which should be easy for colleagues to support you. I can’t imagine the law school caving since Legal Insurrection is not particularly inflammatory.

The great irony in the woke protests is that it seems driven by the same problem as occurred in the death of George Floyd, namely a fear of black men. Fifty years ago Tom Wolf wrote the book Mau-Mau-ing the Flak Catchers and Radical Chic. It was a somewhat humorous description of how black activists manipulated whites guilt and fears of blacks to achieve their goals.

Nobody disagrees about the death of George Floyd. There has been universal condemnation of the officers involved in his death. The mobs of white college age students and the emails from college administrations with hysterical claims of systemic racism seem to me to be one of fear rather than indignation. Courage is something that is universally admired whereas cowardice is considered shameful. So rather than admit to being frightened by the rage from black lives matter actions, particularly the violent ones, they defend them and characterize their support as being for justice. In reality their support is COWARDICE MASQUERADING AS VIRTUE.

Demanding the dismantling of police is not something that blacks in poor communities want. Looting and burning down the businesses in poor black communities is not welcome. The spectacle of whites cheering on the destruction of black communities in the name of anti-racism is profoundly irrational. I think there is some of that irrationality in the support for the complaints you are hearing about your blogging.

    Dantzig93101 in reply to Jonathan Cohen. | June 11, 2020 at 11:16 am

    “Nobody disagrees about the death of George Floyd.”

    I disagree with the belief that we know what happened. We’ve been fooled too many times by snippets of video taken out of context, lies reported as truth, and by propaganda campaigns from the media.

    Remember Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown? I do. Instead of being the victims of racist homicide, they were attempted perpetrators of racist homicide. They were killed in self-defense by their intended victims, both of whom the woke mob wanted to lynch because trials were unnecessary.

    Maybe the officers are guilty as charged, maybe not. I honestly don’t know. And though I would doubt the verdict of any trial over which Keith Ellison had influence, we either have a country of laws or we don’t. The woke might prefer to have the latter, but I think they would regret their choice.

      I think that the cops are probably not guilty, and that Floyd probably died of a mix of natural causes and drug abuse, made worse by trying to pass a counterfeit $20 bill, which led to his arrest, and resistance to that arrest provided the final straw of unusual physical exertion. We all have to stand up for truth, regardless of the passions of the mobs.

    DaveGinOly in reply to Jonathan Cohen. | June 11, 2020 at 11:42 am

    “The spectacle of whites cheering on the destruction of black communities in the name of anti-racism is profoundly irrational.”

    Excellent. That’s a keeper.

      notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to DaveGinOly. | June 11, 2020 at 12:45 pm

      Historically that is what the Democrat Party has done through three centuries now from KKK through Jim Crow now to antifa and BLM.

    JusticeDelivered in reply to Jonathan Cohen. | June 11, 2020 at 12:38 pm

    “Nobody disagrees about the death of George Floyd.”

    I dissaggree, he was big enough and strong enough to be able to stop police from putting him in the car.

    He chose to resist arrest, and that decision is what caused his death. Also, he had a fairly long rap sheet, ie, he was a habitual criminal.

    As he pointed out, some of those colleagues he thought to be friends are part of the lynch mob.

      JusticeDelivered in reply to txvet2. | June 11, 2020 at 6:02 pm

      There are many two faced people, they will act like a friend until they benefit in some way by turning.

      People who project personality, who are excessively friendly, should never be trusted.

    This is fantastic: “The spectacle of whites cheering on the destruction of black communities in the name of anti-racism is profoundly irrational.” It gets around the crazy kafkatrapping and gaslighting of the racist-marxist-maoists.

    Milhouse in reply to Jonathan Cohen. | June 11, 2020 at 5:31 pm

    Nobody disagrees about the death of George Floyd. There has been universal condemnation of the officers involved in his death.

    Actually many people do disagree, including right here in this forum. I’m not sure myself, but I’m inclined to be skeptical; the arguments for Chauvin’s innocence seem to me at this time to be stronger than those for his guilt. I’d want to see more facts before making up my mind, but I can’t trust any information coming out of Keith X Ellison’s office, so I don’t know how to find out anything beyond what’s been reported.

    It’s certainly cleaner rhetorically to accept Chauvin’s guilt as a given and go on from there. I understand why so many right-wing commentators want to do that, so as to have a solid base from which to attack the left. Throwing Chauvin under the bus seems like the smart thing to do. But if he’s actually not guilty then it’s the wrong thing.

We can’t let the outrage mob succeed. Never give up, Professor, there are many of us out here with our eyes wide open. We were suppose to have the law to maintain equality and order. The law itself is under attack. It pains me to hear of the personal attacks against you. This is a tactic used as a means to chip away at the institution and idea of Law. It seems the left wants a lawless society, but I don’t think they know what that ultimately means. There are many of us out here who swore and Oath to the Constitution. I’m waiting until November 4th to see what happens, I think we are in for some very difficult times before and after, but I just wanted to say I wholeheartedly support you Professor.

    DaveGinOly in reply to CKYoung. | June 11, 2020 at 11:47 am

    The Left does not want a lawless society. No one can control a lawless society, and “control” is what the Left desires above all else. What they want is to make their ideology law.

      CKYoung in reply to DaveGinOly. | June 12, 2020 at 7:34 am

      Dave, I understand your point. But to my way of thinking, if it is not based on the Constitution/Bill of Rights, it is not law.

    GatorGuy in reply to CKYoung. | June 11, 2020 at 12:08 pm

    Ditto, Professor.

I would reach out (privately) to Robert George at Princeton, who seems to be a protected-class “Conservative” at an overwhelmingly Liberal/Progressive institution . . . that would occasionally veer into cancel culture except for the vehement protection of free speech by President Eisgruber and the Trustees.

30 years ago, when Princeton’s faculty were overwhelmingly white, (Progressive/Democrat), men, they would regularly trot out Professor Toni Morrison as their Exhibit A for diversity. She was a great contribution to the university community and Princeton got a lot of mileage from the diversity she represented.

Now, Princeton continues to attract terrific scholars and there are many professors and sr. administrators of all demo’s. As for political conservatives . . . hmm. Hence, Robbie George and his Madison Society which is a safe harbor . . . to an extent.

I’m not ok with this!?

Proving yet again, our supposed “liberal” betters, who are oh so open-minded and tolerant, as they lecture us ad nauseum, are always the first ones to squelch the freedom of speech and expression of those with whom they disagree.

I applaud your stance and understand the risks. My career in tech was destroyed by similar elements due to my adherence to commonly accepted principles. This movement is both terrifying and tyrannical. It fundamental rights and way of life are at risk of disappearing.

It disheartens and scares me. The groupthink has accelerated to the point people seem mad, or as Glen Loudry said hysterical.

Spoiled children, the well off, are drivers of this. The poor and minorities have always been pawns, marks.

I wrote on behalf of the chemistry prof, and wanted to but couldn’t find the law dean’s email address.

Even a lot of liberals are aghast at what has been going on; Leo Terrel, Bret Weinstien, for example.

Perhaps we need to organize a counter movement, but that would be asking for war, I guess. I don’t know where this is going, but it seems that it isn’t where many really want.

Most people want to be left alone to take care of their families, etc. and the non response that worked a bit ago, just doesn’t seem to be enough, we will be made to care.

Any chance you can go on the offensive. Sounds like a Defamation, Slander, and Libel action to me. I would also ask for access to the letters via FOIA. Seem to me you would have a right to face your accuser.

    maxmillion in reply to MarkSmith. | June 11, 2020 at 11:50 am

    A tortious interference with contract claim might apply too.

      Milhouse in reply to maxmillion. | June 11, 2020 at 5:39 pm

      Only if the campaign succeeds, which it won’t. A mere attempt to improperly interfere with a contract is not actionable because there are no damages. If the law school were to lose its mind and break its contract, then sure, anyone who used improper means to force it to do that would be liable.

    JusticeDelivered in reply to MarkSmith. | June 11, 2020 at 12:48 pm

    I suggest looking at the FOI list server (Freedom of Information), and the IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors) kist server. Frame questions as nonpartisan. Review archives in order to identify conservatives.

This is outrageous.

Professor Jacobson, I am so very sorry. This must be personally devastating to have people you thought were your friends abandon you to the mob. What pathetic cowards! I admire your willingness to fight, and I will pray for your strength and endurance. From reading the blog, I know that your family has suffered greatly the last few years. I am sorry that the idiots at Cornell are now going to extend the stress to your professional life.

As for the broader implications, if the Academy has now fully embraced Wrongthink™, where does this lead us? I am, quite frankly, becoming very afraid for our future.

Massinsanity | June 11, 2020 at 9:41 am

As a long time reader of LI and observer of the insanity on college campuses across the country, I knew this time would come and I am not surprised it has arrived now. I hope the CLS administration will stay strong in the face of irrationality and I am deeply disappointed, but not surprised, that your colleagues would rather bow to the protest than stand up for what is right.

These are indeed crazy times, to summarize:

– Actual violence is not violence but

– On campus and elsewhere speech is violence and now

– Silence is violence

Dantzig93101 | June 11, 2020 at 9:52 am

Of course, it’s not at all “hurtful and divisive” to subject non-black students to hateful diatribes, historical fabrications, and struggle sessions about how white people are to blame for every bad thing since the beginning of the universe.

It’s not at all harmful to black students to tell them they have no agency, that they shouldn’t even try to work hard and succeed on their merits instead of having affirmative action freebies dropped on them by their condescending plantation overseers.

It’s not at all ridiculous to consider East Asian students honorary “white supremacists” (whatever it means) because they obey the law, work hard, and are good at STEM.

Those things are all fine because they’re invisible. “The fish says, because I live in the water, you can’t see my tears.” And whether because you’re in the water or because your environment is full of lies, what you can’t see doesn’t count.

legacyrepublican | June 11, 2020 at 10:00 am

Can Branco do a political cartoon with BLM with their knee on your neck ala Floyd with the caption, “What’s the difference?”

Words are irrelevant against a raging mob – we need to find action to take. My problem is that I do not know what. I open this for constructive discussion, and a plea for help. He is not alone.

Institutions of thought control vs. Institutions of Learning

I have no doubt you’ll stand strong throughout this. God bless you. Unfortunately, at the same time it is already revealing the weakness of your so-called friends.

Why are Leftists so afraid of mere words?

    peter bartholomew in reply to MarkS. | June 11, 2020 at 11:11 am

    They hate the truth. “sunlight is the best disinfectant”…Communists have learned that a small minority, if vocal enough, and forceful enough, can control large numbers of people. But their control becomes tenuous as the reality seeps out. Truth is kryptonite to the left.

    DaveGinOly in reply to MarkS. | June 11, 2020 at 12:25 pm

    Because they know they are losers in the intellectual battlespace. Therefore they seek to limit the range and effectiveness of their opponents’ weapons (ideas, expressed in words) by shouting them down, silencing them, and changing the meaning of words to control the fight. This is the only way they can dominate the battlespace. They have managed to unilaterally impose “arms control” upon their opponents.

      Carl in reply to DaveGinOly. | June 11, 2020 at 2:21 pm

      Precisely correct. This has been a long time coming. I think it got rolling in 1969 when the armed goons took over Willard Straight Hall and the University dropped to its knees, kind of like the Congressional Democrats with their Kinte Cloths the other day, and begged forgiveness. What can we do? Very little at this point. The fascist Left has dug itself in so deep that I don’t think it can ever be dislodged. As a Cornell alumnus it pains me to say that, but I have given up. There are other institutions that deserve our support. E.g., Hillsdale College.

Consider an employment practices lawsuit for creating a hostile work environment. Money is the only way you are going to get their attention.

That and a one on one conversation with the cowards that ran behind your back. Let them squirm and remind them they will be next.

    Milhouse in reply to cgg. | June 11, 2020 at 5:55 pm

    1. The law school hasn’t created a hostile work environment. It hasn’t done anything and it says it won’t. We can only encourage it to keep its resolve.

    2. There is no law against creating a hostile work environment as such; the whole area of hostile work environment law derives from the anti-discrimination laws, which only apply to discrimination on names grounds, such as sex, race, disability, etc. An employee can either allege that the employer direct discriminated on a named ground, or that it indirectly discriminated by having created a work environment that fosters discrimination on a named ground. But political opinion is not a named ground, at least in NY.

Why do people still shell big buck$ to send their children to such schools?

You have my support 100%, Professor. What they do to you they can do to anybody.

Together we stand, divided we fall.

I have said this before: we should all be scared, but the only way to stop this insanity is to push back, NOW.

Does anyone think they will ever stop?
They are now coming after prominent people like Professor Jacobson, but make no mistake, they are coming for you too. And when they come for you it is going to be so much easier for them to crush you.
Stop them now, or we all will live in fear for the rest of our lives.

    JusticeDelivered in reply to Exiliado. | June 11, 2020 at 12:56 pm

    In the end, they are bullies, and bullies will continue until someone kicks the crap out of them.

I’m old enough to remember when blacklisting professors over political views was the worst thing ever. Apparently that only applies to lefties though. They read “The Crucible” and took it as an instruction manual, not a warning.

    Milhouse in reply to colovion. | June 11, 2020 at 5:57 pm

    However, do you personally believe that it was wrong then? I don’t. I think it was right not to want communists indoctrinating young people, and that had universities done the right thing by preventing them we wouldn’t now be in the mess we are.

I’m sorry, but not surprised, to learn of this attempt to silence any dissent from the BLM/Woke Religion.

It’s happening everywhere. The push back must be intense and unwavering. All of us have jobs, friendships and the tranquility of our neighborhoods at risk if we oppose the current cultural revolution. Yet resist we must. There’s no hiding from it. The ravaging tiger will eat us all if we run. Even the one who runs the fastest.

All lives matter, or else no lives really matter.
Silence is not violence; rioting is violence.
Intolerance from the self-righteous is still intolerance.

nordic_prince | June 11, 2020 at 10:35 am

Stay strong, Professor J. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t out and out fire you, but rather attempt to make your life so intolerable that you’ll either capitulate or quit. Like Chinese water torture, it’s often not the brazen attacks, but the incessant wearing down that is difficult to bear.

    JusticeDelivered in reply to nordic_prince. | June 11, 2020 at 1:07 pm

    This is why I advocate an all out assault, very public, air their dirty laundry.

    Bureaucrats will take the easiest path, and that is to toss him under the bus. That means that he has to make that path difficult for the university.

    I repeat, we should have stomped these people when they were persecuting Zimmerman.

Prof. Jacobson,

My best wishes on dealing with this, and thanks for Legal Insurrection.

Glenn Reynolds commented…

People need to start suing over these campaigns, which are basically conspiracies to deprive people of their civil rights. I think there’s money to be made.
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/379461/

    Milhouse in reply to Ray - SoCa. | June 11, 2020 at 6:12 pm

    I don’t see how it’s different from advocating a boycott, which is well established as protected by the first amendment. Even advocating a racial boycott is protected, though participating in one, by an employer/landlord/public-accommodation/government-contractor is not.

What can we do to help?

    Kemberlee Kaye in reply to Tenbor. | June 11, 2020 at 8:11 pm

    Thanks for asking, Tenbor. Professor Jacobson and I will be addressing this issue on the blog in the next day or two, so be on the lookout for that. Thanks so much for taking the time to read LI and for your willingness to help out! We have a wonderful readership for whom we’re incredibly thankful.

Dear Prof. Jacobson,
It’s time to consider opening your own law firm. Now might be the perfect time. You would do very well. Of course, that’s only a thought and I support you in continuing to teach as well. I’ve always loved you and this website. Thank you for all you do.

The gloves are off.

Fight back and meet the oppressive cancer head-on.

NO MORE MISTER NICE GUY.

The sad fact is when the free expression rights of his detractors, and those like them, are one day threatened, Professor Jacobson will on the front lines to defend them.

It appears that most, if not all, law schools have been seized by leftists–that is why I refuse to donate to my alma mater. If law schools will not even support free speech and the right to express views that may be contrary to others, than we are truly lost.

Wow, Cornell sucks even more than I thought.

Bury them under an avalanche of legal action if they succeed in their virtual, from-the -shadows lynching. Make them sorry they ever tried.

P.S. I’ve just about had it with civility. No joke.

You are a bright shining light and you are not alone. In the real world you are part of a majority that has the wisdom to see things as they are.

DO NOT apologize. It will only be taken as an admission of guilt to oust you.

I advise you look up the SJW Attack Survival Guide : https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/08/vox-day/sjw-attack-survival-guide/

Remember:

SJWs always lie

SJWs always double down (most relevant to “don’t apologize”)

SJWs always project.

Good luck! You should be preparing a lawsuit, not challenging them to a debate. Or do both simultaneously.

It was only a matter of time before they came after Professor Jacobson. The totalitarians in academia won’t tolerate dissenting views. Wear the Dhimmi-crat jackboots’ condemnation like the badge of honor it is, Professor.

    JusticeDelivered in reply to guyjones. | June 11, 2020 at 1:23 pm

    Wearing it as a badge of honor is fine, but also draw blood. Make them rue the day that they picked this fight.

The tactic for non-leftist academics (I use the term to include libertarians with conservatives, as the current environment demonstrates there are effectively no liberals) should be to convince a handful of large universities to reject the radical left and embrace the traditional American values of freedom of speech, free inquiry, honesty, welcoming, and rejecting political blacklisting. Perfect would be the Texas system along with like minded others like U Chicago.

Most Americans reject identity politics speech control out of hand. But they have no alternatives in education because left wing control of academia enforces a cartel. But if the cartel breaks to allow customer choice the funds are going to massively shift away from the far left. The key is developing a legitimate alternative which will require faculty support. Of course the left wing faculty and administrators in the target institution will oppose it, so those institutions will need additional supportive faculty to commit to the project.

Now is the time for this effort. The current extremism makes it even easier than ever before to establish a brand that both breaks with current academia and establishes a reasonable position. Think of how Fox was said to capture a niche market – 50% of America. That was possible because all other TV media were competing for the left. There is an opening here for an institution (or group) willing to take it.

Any critical thought is said to be “hurtful, divisive or hate-filled” without having to explain exactly why. This is why groupthink by the mob is a danger to the Republic.

They are coming for you like they are coming for Professor Mike Adams in North Carolina at UNC-Wilmington. The campaign against Adams is based on lies and distortions by those who really have an objection to his conservatism.

None of the 21 signatories, some of whom I’d worked closely with for over a decade and who I considered friends, had the common decency to approach me with any concerns. Instead they ran to the Cornell Sun while virtue signaling to students behind the scenes that this was a denunciation of me. Such is the political environment we live in now at CLS.

Your true friends emerge in times like these.

    Marshal8 in reply to buck61. | June 11, 2020 at 11:59 am

    Your true friends emerge in times like these.

    Right. A liberal would refuse to sign. A friend would tell them they’re stupidly wrong.

From Martin Niemoller (from approx. the 1950s):

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

—————-
I sign my name to this one. Today I think we need to step our from behind our usernames. We can’t be anonymous. And today we have to help Professor Jacobson.

Michael B. Zuckerman

Denunciations.
Firings.
Re-education.
Forced apologies.
Public humiliation.
Ostracization.
Threats and intimidation.

Tucker Carlson is right. We live in North Korea.

    Milhouse in reply to DaveGinOly. | June 11, 2020 at 6:36 pm

    No. We will live in North Korea if they ever gain power.

      txvet2 in reply to Milhouse. | June 11, 2020 at 6:48 pm

      Which, if they succeed in mandating mail-in vote fraud, could be as soon as January. Imagining that it’s in some far off future could be a deadly mistake.

Silencing criticism and disagreement through threats and intimidation is un-American.

I have always treated my students as individuals, without regard to race, ethnicity or other such factors.
And that right there is the basis for their cries of “Racist!”
You are not allowed to treat members of a preferred group as individuals. You must treat them as members of that privileged group – otherwise, what’s the point of all that identity politics and ‘intersectionality’?

(* “Privileged group” meaning a group claiming victim status, and approved by the priesthood of progressivism. Not all victims are equal, of course.)

Stay strong, professor.

My God, what has happened to liberals in the last 30 years! They’re unserious, reactionary and despicably uninsightful. Hitchens must be rolling in his grave.

ScottTheEngineer | June 11, 2020 at 11:59 am

Some random bigots on the internet are calling you a racist. Must be Thursday.

Well. . . How about the Dean peremptorily expelling the students and firing the professors

Email the dean of the Cornell Law School in support of Professor Jacobson:
Eduardo M. Peñalver
[email protected]

Professor,

We stand with you, shoulder to shoulder in spirit, and behind you, column after column, in row after row, in support.

Lead the cause, Professor, our Captain!

We stand ready, Captain, ready with our words to fight!

O Captain, our words, gleaming and sharp, intentional and well-aimed, will penetrate and pierce, down to the heart of the opposing belief, the abominable foe: ignorance.

With our words at the ready, Captain, we will not allow ignorance to prevail.

We are with you, our Captain, to bring the glory of ius and lex, of wisdom, twins, in all its radiance, to bear and impose itself on ignorance, crushed.

Sources: The soul and efforts of WAJ; the tone and tenor of Walt Whitman

It’s Cambodia, 1975, all over again. That did not end well.

    DaveGinOly in reply to MAJack. | June 11, 2020 at 12:58 pm

    Don’t worry, conditions are different here. The Cambodian people weren’t armed to the teeth. Many law-abiding, armed Americans, are just waiting for the de jure state’s total loss of control, at which time a free-fire zone will have been created. Only then will things get really interesting. Then it will be “go time.” It may not end well, but that includes the distinct possibility that those for whom it does not end well will be those who instigated the fight.

      txvet2 in reply to DaveGinOly. | June 11, 2020 at 9:51 pm

      We’ll see. I can’t help but wonder how many people are in the final analysis going to be willing to shoot their own children.

This may end if (big if) the adults who hire college and law school graduates stop hiring from schools that tolerate or encourage this leftist cancel culture and if (again, big if) parents tell their children that they will not pay tuition for them to go to these schools. Cornell and the current legal work environment present a good test case: CLS is an excellent law school that could nonetheless disappear overnight without creating the slightest ripple of disruption on the larger legal landscape. I say big if because a lot of the so-called adults either are useful idiots or are themselves scared of the mob, but I trust that there are enough men and women of good will of all races, faiths and backgrounds who want to roll up their sleeves and work together while shunning the extremists and nihilists.

    GatorGuy in reply to RRRR. | June 11, 2020 at 1:04 pm

    This solution sounds as real and feasible as they could ever possibly get!

    If only the IF element weren’t so integral.

MaggotAtBroadAndWall | June 11, 2020 at 12:27 pm

Foley : Mayo, I want your D.O.R.

Mayo : No sir. You can kick me outta here. But I ain’t quitting.

Hang in there, Professor Jacobson! I am a Cornell grad, class of ’75. It pains me deeply to see my school becoming just another overpriced, overrated, Ivy League cultural and political reeducation camp.

bobinreverse | June 11, 2020 at 12:31 pm

Always thought that Turley would be first at GWU to bite dust and Prof J maybe second. So if Prof J gets axe before Turley strikes me as quite an honor and that the opposition considers Prof J a bad dude for real. This is nuts but just saying.

Let us know how we can help.

Just checking in also Professor.
Ditto, let us know how to help.
Obviously you have a widespread strong support base here.

    Kemberlee Kaye in reply to DB523. | June 11, 2020 at 8:08 pm

    Thanks so much, DB523. Professor Jacobson and I will be addressing this issue on the blog in the next day or two, so be on the lookout for that. Thanks so much for taking the time to read LI and for your willingness to help out! We can’t do what we do without y’all.

Professor, I read here most everyday and sincerely thank you for your patriotism and logic. Unfortunately liberalism has morphed into a religion that many now place more importance on than friendship and even family. Stay strong!

This is the trial of your life, but your client is really our country.

We’re all in this with you. Start the funding page to sue the school.

notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital | June 11, 2020 at 1:36 pm

Will we soon be reading headlines like this about the Cornell Administration?

Harvard Prof Who Allegedly Lied About Ties to Lab in China, Indicted by Federal Grand Jury

https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/06/harvard-prof-who-allegedly-lied-about-ties-to-lab-in-china-indicted-by-federal-grand-jury/

theduchessofkitty | June 11, 2020 at 1:37 pm

Guys,

We should contact Tucker Carlson. He has already sounded the alarm. And the Professor has been in his show before.

Let all of America know what’s going on here.

broomhandle | June 11, 2020 at 1:43 pm

Someone part of Cornell Law School, please start another petition in support of the Professor and demand that the school fight back against political intimidation such as being attempted here by wayward students and faculty.

I’m not even going to comment on the Professor’s problem. This happens o every heretic who speaks the truth and places him in such noble company as Aristotle and Da Vinci.

My question is why is their even a BLSA and why does it have any power over the operation of the school? Is there a W(hite)LSA? And, if black law students need and are granted an organization to lobby for their interests in a law school, why can’t LEOs have a union to lobby for their interests with a government employers? And, finally, why do the other 87% of the citizens if thus country give a hoot what 13% of the citizens want? Does the term “tyranny of the minority” ring any bells? I wonder what would happen to Cornell Law, if the majority of the students simply transferred to other law schools, leaving Cornell as another black college?

Good luck Professor.

Professor, I experienced a similar situation with my employer over 20 years ago.

There was no employment agreement (contract) with which to legally assert their business interests over my private life and opinions about work situations which I wrote about in parody songs on my private web site. I was very careful to maintain separation between work and my parody song site.

The only push back I ever received, was from a relative with the same last name, who was summoned to an executive manager’s office and directed to pressure me to scrub my web site as an “embarrassment to the company”.

As fate would have, I was in a long distance relationship and resigned my job when we were married I relocated to my new wife’s state. There are just a few co-workers I remain in contact with who told me about 1-2 years after I left the company came out with a new employment agreement that prohibited such ‘personal’ activities as mine; i.e., “no speaking ill of your employer” outside of work.

That sparks a wondering in my non-lawyer but nevertheless shifty brain. Where an employer seeks to exert control over an employee’s free speech during private non-paid non-work time, shouldn’t there be a employment agreement in place that spells the requirement(s) out for you? Otherwise how can you know what constitutes acceptable speech outside work? Absent such employment contract, the condition(s) of your employment are subject to ideological winds.

Perhaps the situation I experienced is unique in that the employer felt it necessary to cover themselves legally, prepared and executed new employment agreements with all new and existing employees. Still I find myself wondering about Cornell – if they are going to subject you to a standard of speech during non-work hours – do they intend codify their requirements and subject all new and current staff and students to sign-on to the new requirements upon threat of termination / expulsion?

In the extreme, it seems like Cornell ought present all faculty and students with a contract that discloses their ideology is left of center – progressive – and faculty and staff are expected to toe the progressive line or remain silent. If forced to codify their speech requirements, I wonder how many staff / students would opt out? The way it is now is tyrannical / coercive.

    Milhouse in reply to MrE. | June 11, 2020 at 7:13 pm

    That sparks a wondering in my non-lawyer but nevertheless shifty brain. Where an employer seeks to exert control over an employee’s free speech during private non-paid non-work time, shouldn’t there be a employment agreement in place that spells the requirement(s) out for you? Otherwise how can you know what constitutes acceptable speech outside work? Absent such employment contract, the condition(s) of your employment are subject to ideological winds.

    If you’re an at-will employee (which most of us are) then you have no guarantees, ever. If you have an agreement then of course it has to spell out the grounds on which termination is permitted. Otherwise any termination is a breach of contract.

    Still I find myself wondering about Cornell – if they are going to subject you to a standard of speech during non-work hours – do they intend codify their requirement

    You have it exactly backwards. Prof J has an agreement with Cornell, which expressly does not subject him to a standard of speech, whether during non-work hours or work hours. It’s called academic freedom. Which is why they say they’re not going to take any action against him. And they know that if they ever break that they will lose in court, so they won’t even bother trying.

Having followed Legal Insurrection since it first started, I can honestly say I haven’t seen a more balanced, critical Blog since the late Neptunus Lex or Bill Whittle’s “Eject, Eject, Eject”. The opinions stated on this site are not legal advice, but they most certainly do obtain when the political picture is cloudy and murky.

Keep it up, Professor! There are quite a few people watching your six!

Professor, by my posts you already know that you are a lot smarter than I am so I won’t suggest a solution. I will say you have many friends who will support you and I hope you count me a one.

    notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to SteelCrabs. | June 11, 2020 at 2:52 pm

    Thanks. That’s a great article. Can Tucker be far behind?

    “…….Esteemed Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson challenged any student, faculty member or advocate to a public debate about Black Lives Matter…..”

    Ibib.

I read your site just about everyday. It’s shame on Cornell that the snowflaked students and faculty are coming after you. I wish you well on your debate but, foresee you being shouted down or heckled. I doubt any of the students and/or faculty will want to see their idealism wrecked upon the shoals of truth. As I once read “just because you are offended, doesn’t mean I’m wrong.

You’re courage is inspiring. Stay strong!

For all that it’s worth, you have my ABSOLUTE admiration and support. It is a privilege to know you in even this loose, internet way.

Well THIS is interesting …

The Cornell Law School web site links to this blog:

https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/faculty/fac_blogs.cfm

There is NO disclaimer associated with any of the linked faculty blogs.

So is a link from Cornell dot edu to this site a de-facto endorsement?

Have the students demanded Cornell de-link from this site?

    lc in reply to MrE. | June 11, 2020 at 3:44 pm

    One wonders what one were to find on the other linked sites if one were seeking dynamite for nefarious cause.
    Tyrannical times.

The false accusations of racism remind me strongly of the attack on the Gibsons. I wonder what action cam be taken in return. We need to make them try to defend their slanders.

    Voyager in reply to Voyager. | June 11, 2020 at 3:15 pm

    Especially since they’ll almost certainly advocate violence if they fail in their initial push. We need to put them on the defensive for once.

do they realize that succeeding in getting you fired would be a big step towards becoming the academic equivalent of a traditional black college???

Keep up the good fight, Prof. Jacobson. I donated to the foundation and encourage others to do so also. We need more good people like the LI staff, Instapundit, Powerline! Thanks for doing what you do!!!!

    Kemberlee Kaye in reply to PRNeoCon. | June 11, 2020 at 7:27 pm

    Truly appreciated. We run a *very* lean operation and take very seriously the fact that we are donor supported. Every single dollar makes a huge difference. Thanks again for your support!

What can we, your readers, do to help?

    Kemberlee Kaye in reply to Wisewerds. | June 11, 2020 at 8:05 pm

    Great question, Wisewerds. Professor Jacobson and I will be addressing this issue on the blog in the next day or two, so be on the lookout for that. Thanks so much for taking the time to read LI and for your willingness to help out! I’ve said it often (because it’s true — we have the Internet’s best readership).

Oregon Mike | June 11, 2020 at 3:41 pm

Well, I was wondering when that shoe was going to drop. This is effing awful.

Hang in there. You’ve got my support, albeit from afar.

(BTW, a couple of years ago I found myself in Ithaca visiting a nephew at Cornell, and on the spur of the moment decided to do a fan boy trip to the law school to see if you were in and say hi. The ladies in the front office said you were out of town, so I left a little post-it note with a greeting. Boy, did I get a frosty reception from them. My bet is you never got the note. So, I kinda guess this doesn’t surprise me.)

Katy L. Stamper | June 11, 2020 at 4:06 pm

It’s interesting that most of the complainers graduated in the last 10 years. The older we are, the more familiar we are with actual free speech.

Good luck. I do think it’s time to end the appeasement of the left. Spying on Trump, an attempted coup, impeachment, the virus, now riots…. They’ve gone too far.

    henrybowman in reply to Katy L. Stamper. | June 11, 2020 at 6:38 pm

    “The older we are, the more familiar we are with actual free speech.”

    My personal clanger has been ringing since I learned that some European nations had passed actual criminal laws against Holocaust denial. Then it was “hate speech,” then they got to redefine “hate” any way they chose. They tried to do the same thing with “assault” weapons, but the gun lobby was way more assiduous than the speech lobby.

This is a time of rampant mob rule, and no instrument is more effective for mob rule than the virtual mobs of social media. No responsible official should be willing to let decisions be influenced by these mobs, which do not even have the reality of a physical crowd of people. This point must be made again and again to cowardly university administrators.

Second, at the present time, no university is even in physical session. Moreover, it is now summer, when students are even more dispersed than they were two months ago. The mobs of the Internet are relying upon the fact that it is especially difficult to marshal any group that opposes their pressure. Even aside from the fact that this is a frontal assault upon academic freedom and one’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech, this is a sneak attack to attempt to create false momentum during a time when knee-jerk responses in favor of anything the BLM activists are saying.

If it will help, a mass campaign to bombard the Dean of the Law School and the President of Cornell University should be mounted to resist these mendacious attempts at character assassination at a time when “public opinion” is especially subject to manipulation. I would be delighted to help if it would do any good, although I am not a Cornell alumnus.

    notamemberofanyorganizedpolicital in reply to HarvardPhD. | June 11, 2020 at 4:22 pm

    We can communicate directly to their alumni…..

    This is just a start.

    Search online.

    cornell university linkedin

    For example…..

      Perhaps twenty or so years ago I had a University in my crosshairs. I acquired their email list, it seems like it was about 30,000 people, current and past students, all their staff. I sent an email to all of them seeking information about a case. It was not so much about acquiring information as stomping their anthill. It was very effective, and we picked up some damning information related to suppression of a rape case which we used as a force multiplier to great effect.

      If you cannot hang an adversary with your primary cause, you can tar them with other wrongdoing.

    SteelCrabs in reply to HarvardPhD. | June 11, 2020 at 5:12 pm

    Dean of the Cornell Law School:
    Eduardo M. Peñalver
    Allan R. Tessler Dean and Professor of Law
    263 Myron Taylor Hall
    Ithaca, NY 14853-4901
    (607) 255-3527
    [email protected]

    President of Cornell University:
    Martha E. Pollack
    Office of the President
    300 Day Hall
    Cornell University
    Ithaca, NY 14853
    (607) 255-5201
    [email protected]

It saddens me, but it doesn’t surprise me in the least to hear of your woes Professor.

This has been an issue with universities and colleges for a long time, and it has only gotten worse.

My father was a professor at NYU. He was vastly recognized as an expert in his field around the world, yet despite being allowed to get to a high position, his politics, which he wasn’t very vocal about, placed a glass ceiling on his academic career. This was in the 70’s and 80’s in particular. He often had talked to me about some of it because I shared his conservative views. At least in those days it was possible to hold those views without the venomous ramifications which we see all over the place today. Though it did remove him from certain positions, the University at least recognized the growth and value he had brought to the program, which he was instrumental in building in undergraduate and graduate study, including starting the doctoral program at the school.

He retired from NYU and started a similar program in another college while continuing to consult and advise doctoral candidates.

His was a scientific field.

I worked at a university for 19 years and have seen the changes the left has wrought on campus there. It is beyond oppressive to any who hold views to the right of Chairman Mao. The students have been given way too much power, though far too many are directed to actions they can take by faculty and staff who know what the inner workings of these institutions have become.

We are in a culture war of our society. Think to how vilified each and every Republican President and political leader has been treated over the decades. You don’t see it happening with Liberal Presidents. And the media is a vast echo chamber for the institutes of higher learning. The left doesn’t believe in freedom, even though they pretend they do. Stalin, Mao, even Hitler all mouthed off about freedom and the progressive nature of their politics, yet they all were oppressive, who took freedoms away while granting small favors to pretend to their great emancipation of the human condition. Then the killing began when they took over.

Oppression and removal of freedom through intimidation are tools wielded by the left. They have been part of most modern day collapses of society, degradation of the family, reduction of freedom, and mostly limiting thought and beliefs to what the powers of their politics want you to be and think, and they actively work their politics of personal destruction against you should you not conform. They do it to their own, though they reserve their worst for their political opposites whom they see as the enemy, not the opposition.

What we are seeing in this world today, the unrest, the rioting, societal break down can be laid at their hands, and nothing ever satisfies them in their pursuit to destroy those who dare to have an opposing view. Liberalism has grown strong over the last decades, the promises of utopia ever more grand, social programs of the government ever expanding, yet the world and society is getting worse. It is the way the left has to be in order to maintain and grow their power and influence. Control of the masses is the only way they have to the power they want over every aspect of your life.

A rational debate with leftist goons is not possible. You would be shouted down by a howling mob.

A rational debate with leftist goons is not possible. You would be shouted down by a howling mob.

Thanks, fascist-maoist-marxist-racist BLM, for bringing my attention to the good professor and his blog.

(Was I originally made aware by NewsBusters? Was such a convoluted process to register for the site – thanks to WordPress – that I forgot which site covered your story.)

    JusticeDelivered in reply to 2zelda. | June 11, 2020 at 5:51 pm

    Let’s be clear, BLM stands for Black Liars Matter, from day one, every case they have pushed has been based on placing a false narrative based on lies into media early and often.

Prof. Jacobson, after reading your bosses, err deans post, he comes across as weak and feeble.

Where do we send the $$$?

Gateway Pundit has picked up the story

Stupid question, but there’s a “Donate” button. Will this help? Because if so, I’m happy to help.

    Katy L. Stamper in reply to Johnula. | June 11, 2020 at 7:01 pm

    Not a stupid question!

    I assume any way you donate will be helpful, but the Professor also runs the Legal Insurrection Foundation. Unsure which is the better vehicle to contribute.

    I will email him and ask him if it will help, and which vehicle is the best one for this.

    Katy L. Stamper in reply to Johnula. | June 11, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    I’ve emailed him and asked. Also, he’s on Laura INgraham tonight, so he may be a bit busy to read my little email. If I hear anything, I’ll post.

      Kemberlee Kaye in reply to Katy L. Stamper. | June 11, 2020 at 7:17 pm

      Yes! We are purely donor supported and run an incredibly lean organization. Every single dollar counts. If you’d like to pitch in, click on the donate button at the bottom of any post, you’ll also find it in the upper right-hand corner of the homepage if you’re viewing it from a computer. Thanks so much for your willingness to support our work. We are truly appreciative.

    Katy L. Stamper in reply to Johnula. | June 11, 2020 at 8:50 pm

    I received a reply. Any link for donations goes to the Foundation regardless of what page it’s on. The donations help fund the operation of the website. He wrote he doesn’t need personal donations.

Professor Jacobson wants a debate; a fair hearing, but what he’ll get is a circa 1967 Maoist struggle meeting.

Students will turn off his mic. They’ll shout neo-Maoist slogans and rain abuse on him. In the end, some will use physical violence.

His law lectures will be disrupted, his students will become the focus of Maoist hate and struggled.

It’s appalling that the Dean of your school would lie about you like that.

Dean Doofus: “…I found his recent posts to be both offensive and poorly reasoned…”

Offensive – except to ADULTS
Poorly reasoned – SEE ABOVE!!!

henrybowman | June 11, 2020 at 6:26 pm

“None of the 21 signatories, some of whom I’d worked closely with for over a decade and who I considered friends, had the common decency to approach me with any concerns. Instead they ran to the Cornell Sun while virtue signaling to students behind the scenes that this was a denunciation of me.”

The signatories are fucking cowards. I hope they’re reading this.

“I challenge a representative of those student groups and a faculty member of their choosing to a public debate at the law school”

Why waste your time? They will only drown you out every time you attempt to speak, and the school will decline to keep order.