Yes, Stanford could've seen its free speech fiasco coming—from a mile away

Any local law school wanting to avoid similar mistakes as Stanford University's (read: to avoid hiring deans who publicly sympathize with anti-free speech protesters) need look no further. Campus Reform breaks down DEI Dean Steinbach's rampant—and easily accessible—history of opposing law enforcement, criminal justice systems, and, yes, the “patriarchy.”

Steinbach’s recent hijacking of Judge Kyle Duncan’s speech at Stanford Law is just the latest episode in the self-described “social justice lawyer’s” fight against “white supremacy and patriarchy” within the American legal system....

Documents obtained by Campus Reform reveal a career of fighting to “dismantle” and disrupt the legal system, disdain for law enforcement, and of pushing progressive policies that endanger the Bay Area community. Much of this was done through a law clinic associated with the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Before her time as DEI Dean at Stanford Law, Steinbach served 11 years as Executive Director of East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), the ”community-based clinical program for Berkeley Law School and largest provider of free legal services and policy advocacy in Alameda County,” according to the university.

Documents obtained by Campus Reform show that EBCLC’s progressive agenda includes “dismantl[ing]” the criminal justice system and helping deregister California sex offenders. The firm's progressive activism extended to helping illegal immigrant students secure DACA status and Medicaid benefits....

In a December 2014 statement listing Steinbach as the media contact, EBCLC condemned police as a “state-sanctioned force” committing violence against protesters involved in vandalism and property destruction.

This article originally appeared in Campus Reform. Read the whole thing here.

This article is part of an Opp Now series on the Stanford Law free speech scandaland 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.

  • Opp Now analyzes Stanford Law’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Spoiler alert: They, and heckler-sympathizer Dean Steinbach, may not be doing all that much.

  • 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).

  • 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.

Follow Opportunity Now on Twitter @svopportunity

Image by Karolina Grabowska

Jax Oliver