Columbia Law School Dean Gillian Lester responded Tuesday after a group of conservative judges warned they would not hire the University’s graduates due to the pro-terrorist demonstrations that have rocked campus in the final weeks of the academic year.
In a letter to Lester and Columbia University president Minouche Shafik, the 13 federal judges said they had “lost confidence in Columbia as an institution of higher education” and explained that their boycott is meant to restore academic freedom at the University.
“Columbia has instead become an incubator of bigotry. As a result, Columbia has disqualified itself from educating the future leaders of our country," they wrote.
“Freedom of speech protects protest, not trespass, and certainly not acts or threats of violence or terrorism. Speech is not violence, and violence is not speech. Universities that are serious about academic freedom understand the difference, and they enforce the rules accordingly,” the judges said.
“It has become clear that Columbia applies double standards when it comes to free speech and student misconduct. If Columbia had been faced with a campus uprising of religious conservatives upset because they view abortion as a tragic genocide, we have no doubt that the university’s response would have been profoundly different,” their letter continued.
"Considering recent events, and absent extraordinary change, we will not hire anyone who joins the Columbia University community—whether as undergraduates or law students—beginning with the entering class of 2024," they vowed.
NEW: 13 federal judges say they will no longer hire clerks from Columbia Law School OR Columbia College after the university allowed an encampment on its lawn to spiral into a destructive occupation of a campus building.
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) May 6, 2024
This is the first clerkship boycott to hit undergrads.🧵 pic.twitter.com/Ex3GlqBUtK
In a statement, Lester said Columbia Law graduates are “consistently sought out by leading employers in the private and public sectors, including the judiciary. And we are deeply committed to supporting our exceptional students as they prepare to embark on their careers in the legal profession.”
Shafik has not responded to requests for comment.