QUOTE OF THE DAY: Law Students Demand ‘Snacks’ as Reparations — And a Space to Cry
A group of students at Georgetown University Law Center requested a space to cry and have catered food Tuesday while staging a sit-in protest of the hiring of a conservative-leaning scholar.
THE QUOTE
In a widely circulated video, one of the activists is seen telling William Treanor, the dean of the law school, that “reparations” for black students such as herself could include “a couple dinners or lunches” or “snacks.”
"Coming back to this reparations thing…I don't know if it's a couple dinners or lunches or what, but that would help us," one activist says.
"We have food on the way," the dean assures her.
"Oh good, okay," she says. pic.twitter.com/W8lT3hPfIF
— Nate Hochman (@njhochman) February 1, 2022
At another point, the student demanded Treanor cover for the classes the activists had missed as a result of the sit-in, and provide a place on campus for them to weep, according to news reports.
- When another student said, “We have food on the way,” the dean responded: “We will reimburse you for that.”
- Treanor also assured the students that “we will find you space” to cry.
THE TRAUMA?
The sit-in came in response to Treanor’s announcement Monday that newly hired administrator Ilya Shapiro would be put on leave pending an investigation of his recent tweets criticizing the use of racial preferences in Supreme Court nominations.
- That punishment wasn’t good enough for the Georgetown Black Law Students Association, which declared Shapiro, a prominent libertarian and Georgetown law school lecturer, must be fired..
In an email to The New York Times Monday, Shapiro expressed regret for his tweets but argued they do not warrant disciplinary action by the law school.
- “I’m optimistic that Georgetown’s investigation will be fair, impartial and professional. And I’m confident that it will reach the only reasonable conclusion: My tweet was inartful and undermined my antidiscrimination message, which is why I apologized,” he said.
- “It was not, however, a violation of any university rule or policy, and indeed is protected by Georgetown policies on free expression.”