The Billiken's Bluff

They amass thousands in debt to attend law school. They study under some of the greatest legal minds in the profession. They are given every opportunity to ponder, deliberate, discuss and debate the finer legal points and controversies of our era at one of the country's top law schools. And yet, NYU Law's ultra-liberal students still have nothing to say.

Here's the story. I came across it because a few years back I happened to join some kind of email-forum for international law students that every once in a while alerted you to when speakers would come to NYU to give talks. But lately I noticed a flurry of emails from NYU law students on the list-serve who were apparently shocked - shocked! - that NYU was planning to honor Justice Scalia at an event put on by one the school's law journals.

Opening up a few of these emails, I came across some of the most outrageously arrogant comments I have ever read. Some amusing comparisons to Martin Luther King were among them. "At the risk of sounding immodest," one student said in a circulated letter, "it is an honor to be on the receiving end of criticism that sadly is reminiscent of the "Statement by Alabama Clergymen" to Martin Luther King."

Ah history, tragically bound to repeat itself!

One student actually suggested that NYU should be honoring "progressive" activists like themselves - not some conservative judge!

It does make some degree of sense - after all, they are law students with a great deal of experience in organizing loud protests to outrages things like U.S. Navy recruitment at NYU. And Scalia - a U.S. Supreme Court Justice who may become the next Chief Justice - seriously, what piddling accomplishments has he made in the legal world??

So what are angry liberal activists to do in a situation like this? What else - protest party! Complete with signs, slogans, and an after-protest reception with drinks and snacks, a vertible NYU army of activists combined from the ranks of OUTLaw, an organization of LGBT law students, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the NYU Black Allied Law Students Association and the NYC Chapter of the National Organization of Women descended on Washington Square Park. (You can read about it for yourself in the WSN).

NYU, stalwart progressive institution that is, of course tried to accomodate these protesters. The Deans attempted to negotiate with the students beforehand to ensure simply that, all other protest-partying aside, the students at least remain quiet enough to allow the S-Court Justice to speak during the planned Q and A session. The Dean's even went out of their way to invite Anti-Scalia students to adress Scalia with their own questions at this time.

But when one NYU law student stepped up to the microphone with the opportunity to question the Scalia about his conservative stances - to frame an intelligent discussion on the topic so that intellectual debate could ensue and the deeper legal truths could be unearthed - what did he ask?

"Do you sodomize your wife?"

We may never know the answer to these and other intelligent "progressive" inquiries from our country's top law students, since - contrary to the struck agreement - NYU protesters were so overwhelmed by their deep emotional need for inclusiveness, understanding and truth that they drowned out Scalia with chants and slogans over the course of the Q and A:

The protesters' voices began to give out as they continued their chants the entire length of the ceremony. When word spread that the ceremony was finished, the group quickly moved around the back of the law school building to confront Scalia as he left the building. Students stood behind a police barricade, chanting and waving signs, as Scalia exited Vanderbilt Hall and was ushered into a reception in D'Agostino Hall across the street.

Progressive Law School though NYU may be, it should be noted that apparently some students were none too pleased to see this go down on their campus.

"We are an institution of learning," Law Republicans President Clark Wohlferd said. "The idea is to challenge each other and debate. A big protest threatens to take that away, cutting off dialogue instead of engaging in dialogue."

Dialogue? Debate? Learning??

But we made tee-shirts!