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‘Irrevocably Shaken’: Editors of Columbia Law Review Demand Cancellation of Exams, Citing Trauma Caused by Police Presence on Campus
Washington Free Beacon ^ | May 2, 2024 | Aaron Sibarium

Posted on 05/03/2024 7:20:11 AM PDT by Twotone

The student editors of the Columbia Law Review issued a statement on Wednesday urging Columbia Law School to cancel exams in the wake of the police operation that cleared the university’s unauthorized encampment, saying the "violence" had left them "irrevocably shaken" and "unable to focus."

The statement, which represents the majority opinion of the editorial board and was endorsed by five other law journals, including the Columbia Human Rights Law Review & A Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual, accused the police of "brutalizing" students—though no major injuries have been reported—and claimed that canceling exams was a "proportionate response" to the "distress our peers have been feeling."

"The current exam policy raises concerns around equity and academic integrity," the statement said. "Many are unwell at this time and cannot study or concentrate while their peers are being hauled to jail."

The statement also accuses members of a "white supremacist, neo-fascist hate group" of "storming" campus—an apparent reference to a pro-Israel rally organized by Christian Zionists, including the evangelical musician Sean Feucht, who gathered outside of Columbia’s gates on April 25 for hymns and prayer.

"We do not think it is inconsistent with being a leading voice in legal academia and legal scholarship to prioritize students’ health and safety," the statement said.

Columbia Law School told the Washington Free Beacon it had no plans to cancel exams, which it said would be administered "through the conclusion of the exam period."

The law review’s editor in chief is Alexandria Iraheta Sousa, a second-year law student who has worked for numerous progressive nonprofits, including a dark money group, Demand Justice, that advocates court packing. She did not respond to a request for comment.

The law school already postponed exams scheduled for May 1—the day after protesters smashed the windows of Columbia’s famous Hamilton Hall and barricaded it from the inside, leading to a confrontation with a janitor who said he was held hostage—and has made all of them virtual amid the unrest. Hundreds of police officers descended on the building Tuesday night, arresting 40 people in the hall and nearly twice as many outside of it, not all of whom were students. The entire operation took just two hours.

Though the protesters are facing a range of criminal offenses, including burglary and trespassing, legal experts say they are unlikely to face jail time. Many seem to be banking on New York’s lax criminal sentencing laws, including the lack of cash bail, to keep them out of serious trouble, according to notes from meetings between Columbia and Princeton organizers obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

While Columbia has promised to expel the students who occupied Hamilton Hall, it is only suspending those who took over the university’s central quad for over a week.

"Columbia thinks they will get suspensions cleared," notes from a powwow between Princeton and Columbia activists read.

The crackdown has nonetheless shaken students on the top-ranked law journal, whose latest masthead includes four "diversity, equity, and inclusion" editors.

"The events of last night left us, and many of our peers, unable to focus and highly emotional during this tumultuous time," the Wednesday statement said. "This only follows the growing distress that many of us have felt for months as the humanitarian crisis abroad continues to unfold, and as the blatant antisemitism, islamophobia, and racism on campus have escalated."

That distress, the statement continued, "is not disproportionate to the outsized impact" these ills have had "on many of us in the community."

If the law school won’t cancel exams, the editors say it should at least make all courses pass/fail—a move that would make it impossible to differentiate between those who ace their tests and those who barely pass them.

"Instituting an optional Pass/Fail policy is not really optional when employers will see that some students have grades and others do not," the statement argues. "[T]his leaves room for the introduction of extreme bias into the hiring process."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cancellation; columbia; trauma
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1 posted on 05/03/2024 7:20:11 AM PDT by Twotone
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To: Twotone

Get rid of police and the Jewish students suffer. Simple


2 posted on 05/03/2024 7:21:54 AM PDT by albie
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To: Twotone

Just take their tuition money and hand out the diplomas already. Studying, learning, critical thinking, exams are for suckers.


3 posted on 05/03/2024 7:23:18 AM PDT by BBQToadRibs2
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To: Twotone

What?!?!?! Trauma? I”d draft these little weasels and smile as the DIs kick their asses.


4 posted on 05/03/2024 7:23:23 AM PDT by Cobra64 (Common sense isn’t common anymore)
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To: Twotone

Should make them optional:

Option 1 - take the exam and pass and get credit for the course

Option 2 - don’t take the exam and get a zero and don’t get credit for the course.


5 posted on 05/03/2024 7:29:06 AM PDT by gunnut
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To: Twotone

I am all for fewer lawyers. Especially from Columbia and other poison ivy third world shitholes.


6 posted on 05/03/2024 7:45:05 AM PDT by HYPOCRACY (Brandon's pronouns: Xi/Hur)
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To: gunnut

Don’t worry. Their woke professors will make damn sure every one of them gets at least a “B”. Anything less would be “unfair”

These kids are going to get the shock if their lives when they find out that the real world isn’t fair, kind or nice. The Law firm of Neil, Suckett and Moane or whoever they go to work for doesn’t have a safe space for when thy get “triggered”.

Make me wonder how they are going to demand that the bar exam by eliminated and all kids with a law degree are instantly admitted to the bar.

Why would anyone hire a Columbia law graduate after this?


7 posted on 05/03/2024 7:47:53 AM PDT by VideoPaul
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To: Twotone

they cause or condone the turmoil and violence and how want a break. Poor darlings. The exams must go on as scheduled. It’s called tough love. Grow up lads!!


8 posted on 05/03/2024 7:50:15 AM PDT by elpadre
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To: Cobra64
I”d draft these little weasels and smile as the DIs kick their asses.

I don't think that's allowed anymore. Might hurt their delicate sensibilities...

9 posted on 05/03/2024 7:53:05 AM PDT by grobdriver (The CDC can KMA!)
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To: Twotone
Alexandria Iraheta Sousa, editor of the law review, DEI beneficiary, hysterical slacker. Wants her meals delivered.

10 posted on 05/03/2024 7:57:25 AM PDT by DeplorablePaul
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To: Twotone

The-Neo-Nazi-Left: https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-neo-nazi-left/

The Neo-Nazi Left-It’s time to call the enemy by its true name

https://www.frontpagemag.com/the-neo-nazi-left/

Frontpagemagazine ^ | May 3, 2024 | David Horowitz and Daniel Greenfield
Posted on 5/3/2024, 5:23:55 AM by SJackson


11 posted on 05/03/2024 8:20:56 AM PDT by Grampa Dave ((“Surrender often means wisely accommodating to what is beyond our control!” — Sylvia Boorstein.))
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To: Twotone

let’s hope these bums get a lot more “police trauma” soon!


12 posted on 05/03/2024 8:21:57 AM PDT by faithhopecharity (“Politicians are not born. They're excreted.” Marcus Tillius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: HYPOCRACY
I am all for fewer lawyers.

I'm with you. As I was reading the article, it dawned on me that with classes canceled, there might not be a graduating class of '24 at Columbia Law!

I should be triggered, I should be outraged, I should feel a wave of impending doom, right?

Nope.

13 posted on 05/03/2024 8:27:04 AM PDT by ZOOKER (Until further notice the /s is implied...)
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To: HYPOCRACY

There was a poster on Conservative Treehouse that made a very credible argument for blaming most of America’s problems on lawyers.


14 posted on 05/03/2024 8:32:46 AM PDT by who knows what evil? (Hospitals are the most dangerous place on Earth! Dr. David Williams)
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To: BBQToadRibs2
Just take their tuition money and hand out the diplomas already.

Negative, they want the test canceled oblige them. No credit for this semester, no graduation and no diploma. They will have to enroll next year to make up the lost credits.

15 posted on 05/03/2024 8:51:43 AM PDT by usurper (AI was born with a birth defect.)
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To: Twotone

16 posted on 05/03/2024 9:25:42 AM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: Twotone

Yeah, just make them take the semester all over again!


17 posted on 05/03/2024 9:26:35 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: DeplorablePaul

The 3 Stooges are good at PIE IN THE FACE


18 posted on 05/03/2024 9:32:11 AM PDT by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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To: Twotone

Nope. They chose to make a decision and suffer consequences of their actions. Put on the big boy pants and deal with life.


19 posted on 05/03/2024 9:32:46 AM PDT by Karliner (Heb 4:12 Rom 8:28 Rev 3, "...This is the end of the beginning." Churchill)
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To: DeplorablePaul

Her pic needs to be sent to every single LAW office in the USA

DO NOT HIRE


20 posted on 05/03/2024 9:33:36 AM PDT by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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