George Mason University&#8217;s Antonin Scalia Law School hired Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh to co-teach a course this summer called Creation of the Constitution. The course will be held 3,668 miles away, in Runnymede, England, where the Magna Carta was sealed 800 years ago. Some George Mason University students and faculty have become triggered. One student told George Mason&#8217;s Board of Visitors, &#8220;It has affected my mental health knowing that an abuser will be part of our faculty.&#8221; Another said, &#8220;The hiring of Kavanaugh threatens the mental well-being of all survivors on this campus.&#8221; The Washington Post reports that a petition to fire Kavanaugh has gathered almost 3,500 signatures and has the endorsement of George Mason Democrats. GMU students have created separate forms for parents and alumni to pledge that they will not donate to the university so long as Kavanaugh is teaching.
Part of student demonstrations included defacing a statue of the university&#8217;s namesake George Mason by putting blue tape on his mouth and attaching anti-Kavanaugh signs. The university&#8217;s spokesman Michael Sandler gave The College Fix a mealy-mouthed excuse saying, &#8220;We allow students to dress up the statue, so this doesn&#8217;t violate any policies that I&#8217;m aware of.&#8221; He said the university &#8220;strongly supports freedom of expression and this would seem to fall into that category.&#8221; His vision suggests that freedom of expression includes defacing university property.
Youngsters with little understanding might be forgiven for their protest of a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice sharing his wisdom with law students. But faculty members cannot be excused. Professor Bethany Letiecq, the head of the George Mason chapter of the American Association of University Professors, endorsed a call by UnKoch My Campus, another leftist group, for a congressional investigation of GMU&#8217;s law school&#8217;s hiring of Justice Kavanaugh as an adjunct faculty member. Fortunately for civility, Dr. Angel Cabrera, the university&#8217;s president, said that there were no legitimate grounds for an investigation by the university. He threw a bit of pablum to the protesters by saying: &#8220;I respect the views of people who disagreed with Justice Kavanaugh&#8217;s Senate confirmation due to questions raised about his sexual conduct in high school. But he was confirmed and is now a sitting Justice.&#8221; Considering that a college president is also a politician, that statement demonstrates good judgment. According to The College Fix, after listening to the student protestors speak during the board meeting, Cabrera and Board of Visitors rector Tom Davis said they were proud of the students and appreciated that they spoke up and acted as engaged citizens. That&#8217;s nonsense.
I receive many questions from people around the nation who are surprised by the happenings at GMU. As I have advised on numerous occasions, George Mason University erroneously earns a reputation as a conservative/libertarian university because of its most distinguished and internationally known liberty-oriented economics department, which can boast of two homegrown Nobel laureates in economics. Its Antonin Scalia Law School has a distinguished faculty that believes in personal liberty and reveres the U.S. Constitution &#8212; unlike many other law schools that hold liberty and our Constitution in contempt. The rest of the university is just like most other universities &#8211; liberal, Democratic Party-dominated. The chief difference between my GMU colleagues and liberals at some other universities is that they are polite, respectful and congenial, unlike what one might find at places like U.C. Berkeley or University of Massachusetts.
GMU students and faculty may also be disturbed about what Justice Kavanaugh is going to teach. In the course, Creation of the Constitution, he will explain how much the Magna Carta influenced the founders of our nation. The 1215 Magna Carta limited the power of central government and it forced a reigning monarch to grant his English subjects rights. It contained a list of 63 clauses drawn up to limit King John&#8217;s power, resulting in making royal authority subject to the law instead of reigning above it. It laid the foundations for limited constitutional governments, an idea offensive to most leftists.
Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University. To find out more about Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

WILLIAMS: Justice Kavanaugh And GMU Snowflakes

Brett Kavanaugh

George Mason University

George Mason University says that United States Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh will continue to teach a single summer course at the Antonin Scalia Law School, despite concerns from the student body that Kavanaugh&#8217;s presence made them feel &#8220;unsafe.&#8221;
&#8220;Even if the outcome is painful,&#8221; the school&#8217;s president, Angel Cabrera, told a group of students who gathered at a &#8220;town hall&#8221; even earlier this week, &#8220;what&#8217;s at stake is very, very important for the integrity of the university.&#8221;
The school&#8217;s provost noted that George Mason saw &#8220;no reason for university administrators to override&#8221; the law school&#8217;s decision to welcome Kavanaugh as a guest lecturer during the summer semester, and Cabrera agreed, even though the students at the town hall were left completely bewildered as to why the administration had failed to take their &#8220;mental health&#8221; into consideration when extending an invitation to Kavanaugh.
The <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/george-mason-university-students-brett-kavanaugh_n_5cb75ca6e4b081fd16924ff3?i0g">Huffington Post</a> reports that students organized the town hall as a protest, alongside an ad campaign and a petition, which received around 10,000 signatures. But it was to no avail.
&#8220;Even if in this particular case the outcome is one that you deeply disagree with, the process by which these decisions are made and the reason why we are so firm in defending them is actually essential to the way a university like ours operates,&#8221; Cabrera insisted to the students.
The town hall, arranged by anti-sexual assault activists on campus, quickly turned, then, from a discussion between students and administrations into an airing of grievances, with students openly condemning Kavanaugh for his own &#8220;alleged sexual assault&#8221; &#8212; a single accusation of impropriety leveled by a former high school classmate about an incident that took place decades ago, and which the FBI could find no proof of. Kavanaugh has routinely and stridently denied the allegation.
One activist even suggested the Kavanaugh contract &#8212; which has the Supreme Court justice teaching a single class for the next three summers at the school&#8217;s campus in the United Kingdom (not even in the continental U.S.) &#8212; was evidence that GMU somehow encouraged sexual violence on campus.
&#8220;How could Kavanaugh possibly be hired despite Ford&#8217;s allegations? Why is the college student that recorded women in the bathroom still on this campus?&#8221; said one protester, according to HuffPo. &#8220;A blatantly obvious response by GMU [would be one] that states that first they do not believe Dr. Blasey Ford&#8217;s testimony and second do not care about the safety of their students.&#8221;
&#8220;In hiring Kavanaugh, to what extent did you consider the mental health of the survivors on campus and how that might affect them and their education?&#8221; asked another &#8212; a question which HuffPo describes as earning &#8220;snaps&#8221; from the gathered students (clapping is, it seems, now considered triggering).
Others were left simply baffled.
<blockquote>
&#8220;Oh, my God,&#8221; one female student said aloud.
&#8220;Why?&#8221; asked another, to no one in particular.
</blockquote>
Kavanaugh, of course, defended himself against Dr. Christine Blasey Ford&#8217;s allegations in an appearance under oath in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has now served on the Supreme Court for half a term.

George Mason University To Protesters: Brett Kavanaugh WILL Teach Here, Sorry

Christine Blasey Ford

Sexual Assault

Get accused of sexual assault these days, no matter how old, thin, or conveniently timed the allegations were, and there will be activists determined to see that you are never free to surface on planet Earth.
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual misconduct just after President Donald Trump nominated him last summer. The allegation didn&#8217;t surface until just before he was supposed to be confirmed, delaying confirmation to allow time for a contrived hearing of the original allegations and for more &#8220;accusers&#8221; to come forward. Naturally, more did, yet their stories were even more unbelieveable than the first. One woman couldn&#8217;t remember if Kavanaugh was the man who harassed her, yet media outlets printed her allegation. Two other women came forward as clients of disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti. He and one of the clients have been referred for criminal investigation over the allegations.
Kavanaugh was confirmed, yet those who insist we believe every woman who makes an accusation (especially against a Republican) still believe he is, in fact, a sexual abuser even though no evidence exists to prove that claim. The people the accusers said could corroborate their stories could not do so.
Kavanaugh, now a Supreme Court Justice, was offered a summer teaching job at George Mason University. Activists quickly spun into action to get him fired, and a liberal &#8220;dark money&#8221; group stepped in to help.
Demand Justice, the &#8220;dark money&#8221; group, is led by former Hillary Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon and has been buying Facebook ads targeted at George Mason students, faculty, staff, and alumni, and calling on them to sign a petition initiated by students which currently has nearly 5,000 signatures, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/clinton-official-george-mason-kavanaugh-allegations">according to Fox News</a>.
The Huffington Post <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/george-mason-university-brett-kavanaugh_n_5cae552ee4b0308735d48efd">reported</a> that the ads also request those affiliated with George Mason sign a separate petition calling for congressional Democrats to investigate Kavanaugh, even though he had already gone through several FBI background checks and an additional week-long investigation prior to his confirmation.
The Washington Examiner (my former employer) <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/former-hillary-clinton-aide-behind-lobbying-efforts-to-get-university-to-fire-kavanaugh">reported</a> that the student group is calling itself Mason for Survivors and has been circulating the petition for the past month. It calls for George Mason to &#8220;Terminate AND void ALL contracts and affiliation with Brett Kavanaugh.&#8221; It also demands the university apologize for hiring him in the first place and provide more funding for sexual assault victims.
So far the university has not kowtowed to student demands. George Mason president Angel Cabrera released a statement saying, he &#8220;respect[s] the views of people who disagreed with Justice Kavanaugh&#8217;s Senate confirmation due to questions raised about his sexual conduct in high school,&#8221; but added that &#8220;he was confirmed and is now a sitting justice.&#8221;
In a news release, former Clinton aide Fallon said Kavanaugh &#8220;has been credibly accused of sexual assault by multiple women whose allegations have not been thoroughly investigated.&#8221;
As stated earlier in this article, this is simply not true. One woman, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, seemed credible as she spoke before Congress, but her story was not backed up by her supposed witnesses, including one of her best friends. The other allegations lacked any corroboration whatsoever, even after multiple media outlets (The New Yorker, The New York Times, NBC) tried desperately to find evidence. They, of course, printed the stories anyway, breaking journalistic ethics.

Former Hillary Clinton Spox Is Trying To Get Brett Kavanaugh Fired From His Teaching Job

Some students at George Mason University have decided that even though a class taught by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh will be held in England, they want him fired from the faculty. As Zachary Petrizzo reports for <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/students-protest-visiting-professor-brett-kavanaugh-as-threat-to-mental-health/">The College Fix</a>, video footage taken from the public comment period of GMU&#8217;s board meeting last week shows various students claiming their mental health would be challenged by the very idea of Kavanaugh having a position as a visiting law professor.
One female student commented, &#8220;The hiring of Kavanaugh threatens the mental well-being of all survivors on this campus.&#8221; Another female student echoed, &#8220;It is affecting my mental health knowing that an abuser will be part of our faculty.&#8221; A third chimed in, &#8220;As someone who has survived sexual assault three times, I do not feel comfortable with someone who has sexual assault allegations walking on campus.&#8221;
The class will be held this summer in Runnymede, England, which is where the Magna Carta was signed.
Last Wednesday at a Faculty Senate meeting, as Petrizzo <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/gmu-faculty-want-new-probe-of-kavanaugh-there-has-not-been-a-full-investigation/">reported</a>, GMU President Angel Cabrera responded to criticism of the hiring of Kavanaugh by saying, &#8220;He has been confirmed by &#8212; this is not a crazy appointment. This is a Supreme Court justice who is going to be teaching about the United States Constitution. So from that standpoint, I believe I am not going to question the judgment of that. It&#8217;s not a crazy appointment. &#8230; Having a Supreme Court justice is going to create value for the students. The students, by the way, have agreed. The students have signed up to this class.&#8221;
Petrizzo noted, &#8220;Cabrera added he is not making a judgment about the accusations lodged against Kavanaugh or whether he is guilty or innocent.&#8221;
Professor Bethany Letiecq, president of George Mason University&#8217;s American Association of University Professors chapter, replied, &#8220;Well, should we investigate that? I mean, should we investigate that? He&#8217;s been accused, and there has not been a full investigation as far as I&#8217;m &#8230; that I can see.&#8221;
The idea that Kavanaugh was not thoroughly investigated is about as ludicrous a statement as one could make; he was likely the most-investigated nominee of any person who has been put forth as a possible justice on the Supreme Court. The summary report and exhibits alone of the <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/releases/senate-judiciary-committee-releases-summary-of-investigation-from-supreme-court-confirmation">investigation performed by the Senate Judiciary Committee</a> totaled 414 pages. 45 individuals were interviewed; 25 written statements were taken.
Robby Soave of Reason, who took an even-handed approach to the furor surrounding the Kavanaugh hearings, <a href="https://reason.com/blog/2019/04/08/gmu-brett-kavanaugh-survivors-sexual-mis">pointed out succinctly</a>:
<blockquote>
But even if an investigation were to take place, this would hardly placate the student activists: They want the university to #CancelKavanaugh immediately. This follows from the fourth-wave feminist presumption that all self-proclaimed survivors of sexual misconduct must be telling the truth&#8212;even though at least one of the Kavanaugh accusations is <a href="https://reason.com/blog/2018/10/26/planned-parenthood-julie-swetnick-avenat">extremely dubious</a>. It would be a terrible blow to the principles of fairness and academic freedom if a university were to un-person one of the foremost judicial figures in the country over this.
</blockquote>

George Mason University Students Want Brett Kavanaugh Thrown Off Faculty

Virginia Democrats are attempting to prevent George Mason University from <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCALIA_LAW_SCHOOL?SITE=MYPSP&amp;SECTION=HOME&amp;TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&amp;CTIME=2016-04-06-18-47-19">renaming its law school</a> after the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia.
The school received a $20 million donation from an anonymous donor with the proviso that the law school be named after Scalia, which prompted eleven Democrats to write to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, (SCHEV) demanding that the school refuse to use the late justice&#8217;s name.
On Tuesday, after briefly naming the law school the Antonin Scalia School of Law, which would have had the acronym ASSLAW, the school changed the prospective name to the Antonin Scalia Law school.
The letter from the partisan legislators stated that Scalia &#8220;was also one of the most controversial justices in modern history. Indeed, we have received pleas from alumni who are deeply concerned that this decision will undermine their ability to find future employment or undermine their professional reputation.&#8221;
One of the legislators, Del. Marcus Simon, D-Falls Church, bragged that the petition he created to protest the name change had elicited over 1,000 signatures. He intoned that he was concerned for students at the law school, saying, &#8220;This is a big, in-your-face kind of a move,&#8221; adding that the $20 million donation and a $10 million donation from the conservative Koch Foundation would attempt &#8220;to shape their young minds and train them in the Scalia way of thinking. That&#8217;s troubling to me.&#8221;
Simon has <a href="v">viciously attacked</a> the prospective name change, writing, &#8220;When word of the name change spread on social media on the last day of March, many of us assumed it was an April Fool&#8217;s Day joke that someone&#8217;s intern had mistakenly released a day early.&#8221; Showing his vehement disregard for the Constitution and Scalia&#8217;s championing of an originalist perspective, Simon, whose vaunted law degree came from American University (Scalia graduated from Harvard Law School and was regarded as one of the most brilliant minds to serve on the Supreme Court) wrote, &#8220;Supporters of the name change will argue that regardless of what you think of Scalia&#8217;s political views and legal opinions, you have to admire his intellect. I would argue that originalism and textualism are anti-intellectual.&#8221;
Simon was echoed by Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, who complained,&#8221;To simply steamroll people&#8217;s collective input over $20 million from an anonymous donor is outrageous.&#8221;
<blockquote>
&#8220;When word of the name change spread on social media on the last day of March, many of us assumed it was an April Fool&#8217;s Day joke that someone&#8217;s intern had mistakenly released a day early.&#8221;
Intellectual giant Marcus Simon, Democrat from Virginia, slamming Antonin Scalia
</blockquote>
Law school senior associate dean David Rehr responded, &#8220;We just want to be sure we&#8217;re being respectful to Justice Scalia, to the school and our students&#8221; by using Scalia&#8217;s name. SCHEV spokesman Greg Weatherford said the council would consider George Mason University&#8217;s proposal for the name change.
Law school dean Henry Butler Butler stated that donations are treated as confidential while the terms are being negotiated; thus views from others are temporarily limited.

Democrats Butthurt By Scalia Try To Stop A University From Naming Their Law School After Him

Antonin Scalia

George Mason University decided to rename their law school in honor of the late great Justice Antonin Scalia. The university, however, apparently did not proofread the troublesome acronyms created by The Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University: &#8220;ASSLaw&#8221; or &#8220;ASSoL.&#8221;
Naturally, the Twittersphere erupted with suggestive and comical remarks over the rear-end-resembling acronym of the new law school.
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ASSLaw?src=hash">#ASSLaw</a> is trending. Lol. I don&#8217;t think this is the PR they were expecting. Antonin Scalia School of Law. Roflmao I prefer <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ASSoL?src=hash">#ASSoL</a> myself.
&#8212; La Bella Esq. (@LaBellaEsq) <a href="https://twitter.com/LaBellaEsq/status/715664072679796739">March 31, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
George Mason School of Law renamed Antonin Scalia School of Law, or ASSLaw&#8230;ASSOL. Did NOBODY proof those acronyms? <a href="https://t.co/D1C6HncReT">pic.twitter.com/D1C6HncReT</a>
&#8212; Brieahn J. DeMeo (@Brieeeeee) <a href="https://twitter.com/Brieeeeee/status/715704982390063105">April 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
It will always be <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/asslaw?src=hash">#asslaw</a> to me <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ASSlawforever?src=hash">#ASSlawforever</a>
&#8212; Dylan Petrohilos (@dpetrohilos) <a href="https://twitter.com/dpetrohilos/status/717702273133051904">April 6, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I suspect that they are busy trying to figure out how to put out the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ASSLaw?src=hash">#ASSLaw</a> fire first. <a href="https://t.co/mrLtyQYMNs">https://t.co/mrLtyQYMNs</a>
&#8212; Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) <a href="https://twitter.com/imillhiser/status/715642360642797572">March 31, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>
The well-intended, now-remorseful university quickly sent a letter to the students to cover their&#8230; behinds. GMU explained that they had initially &#8220;authorized to use a variety of different names.&#8221;
&#8220;The name initially announced &#8211; The Antonin Scalia School of Law &#8212; has caused some acronym controversy on social media,&#8221; said the dean of the law school, adding, &#8220;The Antonin Scalia Law School is a logical substitute.&#8221;
The Hill <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/justice-antonin-scalia-gmu-law-school-acronym-controversy-assol-asslaw">notes</a> that the law school is now &#8220;using the alternative name on its website and marketing materials.&#8221;
&#8220;The renaming of the school is expected to be effective July 1, with final approval from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.&#8221;
Soon after the mishap, Dean Henry N. Butler and a professor at the university, co-authored a piece in the Washington Post about the memorializing of originalist Scalia.
<div class="media_embed">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Dean Butler &amp; Prof Rao co-author piece in <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost">@washingtonpost</a> on memorializing Justice Scalia by naming school after him <a href="https://t.co/FR4d057yOP">https://t.co/FR4d057yOP</a>
&#8212; Scalia Law School (@georgemasonlaw) <a href="https://twitter.com/georgemasonlaw/status/717433484218916864">April 5, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>

George Mason University Wanted to Name Its Law School After Scalia. Then They Ran Into A Problem.

Three students at George Mason University were arrested after police officers discovered bomb-making material Wednesday evening.
The <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/03/22/three-students-arrested-on-drug-bomb-charges-at-george-mason-university.html">Associated Press</a> reports that &#8220;a leafy green substance, match books, shaved match heads, a mortar and pedestal, lighter fluid, hand sanitizer candles and a PVC pipe&#8221; were found in a dorm room in Jefferson Hall, all of which can be used to create a bomb.
Two students were arrested on charges relating to drugs and alcohol, while another was arrested for the possessing bomb-related materials. None of the suspects were identified.
While the motivation on the alleged bomb-making isn&#8217;t clear, the editorial staff at <a href="http://redalertpolitics.com/2016/03/22/bomb-making-george-mason-univ-dorm-3-students-arrested/">Red Alert Politics</a> suggests that it may be terror-related:
<blockquote>
GMU is located in Northern Virginia, where there has been a notable uptick in radical activity among youths. In nearby Prince William County, 17-year-old Ali Shukri Amin pled guilty last July to &#8220;conspiring to provide material support to terrorists&#8221; when he helped ISIS recruit another teen to go to Syria.
Other reports have shown a concerted effort by ISIS to engage teenage Americans. One paper by George Washington University identified Virginia as a hotspot for these recruiting efforts. While we know very little about the motive and identity of these GMU students, this trend is worth noting as the investigation develops.
</blockquote>
Regardless, students in the dorm are relieved that the police discovered the bomb-making materials.
&#8220;It&#8217;s surprising to me that no one else on the floor knew about it, and if they did, they didn&#8217;t say anything about it,&#8221; student Sydney Cono <a href="http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/111090902-story">told</a> FOX 5 DC. &#8220;Explosive are very, very harmful, but at least the police caught it before something bad could have potentially happened.&#8221;

Menu

George Mason University

WILLIAMS: Justice Kavanaugh And GMU Snowflakes

George Mason University To Protesters: Brett Kavanaugh WILL Teach Here, Sorry

Former Hillary Clinton Spox Is Trying To Get Brett Kavanaugh Fired From His Teaching Job

George Mason University Students Want Brett Kavanaugh Thrown Off Faculty

Democrats Butthurt By Scalia Try To Stop A University From Naming Their Law School After Him

George Mason University Wanted to Name Its Law School After Scalia. Then They Ran Into A Problem.

Three Students Just Got Arrested For Allegedly Making Bombs at George Mason University

Menu

George Mason University

WILLIAMS: Justice Kavanaugh And GMU Snowflakes

George Mason University To Protesters: Brett Kavanaugh WILL Teach Here, Sorry

Former Hillary Clinton Spox Is Trying To Get Brett Kavanaugh Fired From His Teaching Job

George Mason University Students Want Brett Kavanaugh Thrown Off Faculty

Democrats Butthurt By Scalia Try To Stop A University From Naming Their Law School After Him

George Mason University Wanted to Name Its Law School After Scalia. Then They Ran Into A Problem.

Three Students Just Got Arrested For Allegedly Making Bombs at George Mason University

Don't miss a beat of our coverage.