Following up on my previous posts (links below): New York Law Journal Op-Ed: When an Award-Winning Law School Paper Is Profoundly Questionable, by Joel Cohen (Senior Counsel, Petrillo Klein & Boxer, New York; Adjunct Professor, Cardozo and Fordham):
On June 21, The New York Times reported that a University of Florida law student argued in his award-winning paper for a class regarding the intellectual philosophy of “originalism” that “We the People” meant just white people. Yes, just white people! And still, it was award-winning. …
Given academic freedom and the First Amendment, certainly [Preston] Damsky had the right to submit any point of view. Indeed, his being way off the mark actually reflects my own thinking; and I have to recognize that I could author a piece—and often do—which the likes of Damsky would find abhorrent. But here is the thing—he was rewarded. He received the highest grade in class while spouting hate. How can that be, even if that hate was shrouded in an intellectual exercise?
Is it about academia—indeed, law school academia—allowing students to say whatever they want as long as they believe that there’s an intellectual underpinning to their product? Should it matter that the professor who granted the award—really identifying Damsky as the best student in the class based, in large part, on this paper—is a Trump-appointed district judge (or is that, and likely so, simply a cheap shot in times of political warfare?)? Should it matter? Would it have made a difference if the adjunct professor/judge knew at the time (this was not evident until after the award was given), that Damsky is an avowed racist and antisemite who has argued that Jews must be “abolished by any means necessary." …
I acknowledge a school of thought that a student’s paper must be viewed by its scholarship rather than by the point of view taken. But professors have a larger role; part of teaching, at least in my view, requires one to challenge, not reward, the bizarre sentiments such as those Damsky has chosen to argue or express.
Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:
- New York Times, Turmoil At University Of Florida Law School After Adjunct Professor Federal Judge Gives Book Award To White Nationalist Antisemitic Student For His Racist Paper
- Merritt McAlister (Interim Dean, Florida), Response To New York Times Article
- Joshua Kastenberg (New Mexico), Will Federal Judge Who Gave Award To Racist Paper As University Of Florida Adjunct Professor Need To Recuse Himself In Certain Future Cases?
- NBC News, University Of Florida Law Student Who Wrote A Paper With White Nationalist Views Has Jewish Ancestry
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