☆ What does Stanford's DEI Dean Steinbach actually do?
In this latest exclusive, Opp Now dives into and analyzes Stanford Law’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—about which many are asking questions, post-The Judge Duncan Incident. Spoiler alert: They, and heckler-sympathizer Dean Steinbach, may not be doing all that much.
Following startling responses by students and admin to Stanford Law guest speaker Judge Kyle Duncan, people all over the nation have begun to ask questions. Questions about if local law schools, and colleges in general, are still effective places to learn critical thinking amid ideological differences. Questions about what the next generation of students—and leaders, business owners, law enforcement officers, etc.—truly believes about free speech: if it is worthy to champion even when it allows offensive ideas to be (re)produced. The point is, The Stanford Law Controversy has dominated headlines in and outside of the state for weeks now, with no signs of slowing down.
Perhaps the most disturbing part about this issue isn’t the student side of things, from their all-dark-clothing protest ensembles (what were they grieving: diverse thought in America’s public education?) to the alarming idea that protected “counter-speech” means completely shouting someone down. No, it is perhaps more worrisome that a Stanford representative—DEI Law School dean Tirien Steinbach—sided with the students, asking Duncan at the front of the room if his prepared talk was “worth the squeeze.” If it was worth the offense it might provoke in students dismayed about his judicial stances.
Ed Whelan said it poignantly in the National Review: “It’s time for [Law School Dean] Martinez to realize that Steinbach’s juice isn’t worth the squeeze.” And Whelan isn’t alone on that take. We did some digging into Stanford Law’s DEI office to find out the answer to a simple question: What do they actually, really do? For instance, what is Dean Steinbach accomplishing to amass a yearly salary between $100k and $200k, overwhelmingly more than most tenure-track faculty members?
The hazy ambiguity on Steinbach’s responsibilities goes a couple years back: Stanford’s Associate DEI Dean job posting from 2020 (Steinbach was hired in 2021) employs vague language about this desired person’s actual duties. The most enlightening phrase mentions developing “programs and systems”—to, we can only assume, advance the nebulous web of DEI interests. But the listing doesn’t specify. Programs and systems it is.
Steinbach is listed as being part of curriculum development and delivery for SLS’s support program Law Scholars Institute. And one Stanford web page clarifies that she provides students with counseling (though not a licensed or experienced counselor) and develops “new programming and strategy” while working on DEI-related issues in the university. That’s about as specific as it gets.
In a practical sense, Steinbach’s job is to get involved with anything possibly related to race or discrimination on campus—including law students feeling offended that guest speaker Judge Duncan has different views than them.
Then, what has Stanford Law’s DEI Office been doing? The office proudly lists its accomplishments organized by year in a “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion In Action at SLS” page. Here are the most cogent items, synthesized:
Creating SLS’s Racial Justice Center (a thinktank-esque commission that produces equity-related information and learning opportunities),
Offering more race-based courses,
Providing financial aid opportunities to low-income students/faculty, and—seen most frequently by far—
Celebrating non-white professors getting hired and promoted.
It’s not that impressive. What’s more is that most, if not all, of the truly helpful list items should have been under the jurisdiction of other Stanford offices (e.g., a mock interview workshop benefits all law students and shouldn’t have only been considered and marketed as a “racial diversity” initiative).
But one (half?) gold star for the DEI Office: What we found as a productive element of SLS’s DEI initiatives was the establishment of discussion seminars. In these seminars, small groups of students and faculty reflect on complicated topics within the law discipline in “informal, intellectually stimulating environments.”
However, the DEI in Action page may be taking too much credit for this one: The discussion seminars were created in 2013 for 2L and 3L classes, and were merely expanded to 1Ls in 2019 per DEI recommendations.
Nevertheless, continuing to foster respectful conversations on challenging issues with diverse people is an important part of developing critical thought—and we’re all for it. We, along with countless others across the nation, just aren’t sure a dedicated racial equity office with an $100K/year associate dean is a constructive way to pursue it. At Stanford or any other university.
This article is part of an Opp Now series on the Stanford Law free speech scandal—and its aftermath:
Fifth Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan was shouted down last week at a Stanford Law School event, and the disruption was supported by Associate Dean of DEI Tirien Steinbach. David Lat's exceptional Original Jurisdiction has the whole story here.
Tim Rosenberger, Jr., president of Stanford Law’s Federalist Society chapter, breaks down Stanford’s dangerously “comfort”-driven student/faculty culture.
Campus Reform reports that a group of Stanford students are urging the university to dismiss DEI Dean Steinbach.
In the wake of Stanford University’s free speech colloquies, Daniel McCarthy of the NY Post digs into Leftism’s aversion to differences.
TXEER Politics and Religion Board user pvbmtnr considers the binary thinking separating free speech and DEI—as especially located in Dean Steinbach’s WSJ defense piece.
Tim Rosenberger, Jr. assesses why a few prominent judges have announced they will stop hiring Stanford Law grads.
John Banzhaf is brandishing the potentially career-killing threat of bar complaints against Stanford Law students who heckled federal judge Kyle Duncan.
Reason's Josh Blackman unravels how DEI has stuck its nose into all issues possibly correlated with discrimination (big surprise: it's most of them).
Campus Reform breaks down DEI Dean Steinbach's rampant—and easily accessible—history of opposing law enforcement, criminal justice systems, and, yes, the “patriarchy.”
Stanford's Federalist Society student org president Tim Rosenberger, Jr. discusses how labeling all nonconformists as “far-right” is divisive.
Althouse explains why these university scandals continue happening: As the extremists get louder, the moderates get quieter.
After Stanford's free speech disaster, many are questioning if DEI jobs belong in education, including past USD board runner Zoila Herrera Rollins.
The Free Press’s Bari Weiss unpacks why we should pay attention to universities’ free speech incidents: Young people are powerfully shaping our institutions—and our collective future.
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Image by Wally Gobetz