WASHINGTON – Today, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Higher Education and Workforce Development Chairman Burgess Owens (R-UT) sent a letter to the American Bar Association (ABA) Chair Joseph West urging the accreditor to make a determination whether Stanford Law School is out of compliance with the ABA’s academic freedom standard in light of the school’s treatment of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan. As an invited guest, Judge Duncan was shouted down by students and faculty for attempting to voice alternative opinions, with one protestor shouting, “We hope your daughters get raped!”
In the letter, Reps. Foxx and Owens write: “We write to express our disgust at the appalling treatment U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan received as an invited speaker at Stanford Law School on March 9, 2023, and to question whether Stanford Law School is out of compliance with its accreditation standards. Shouted down by disruptive law students, Judge Duncan was prevented from delivering his remarks. …The president and dean acknowledged the significant shortcomings of ‘staff members who should have enforced university policies [but] failed to do so,’ and ‘[who] instead intervened in inappropriate ways that are not aligned with the university’s commitment to free speech.’”
Reps. Foxx and Owens continue:“Distinct from our concerns about Stanford’s acknowledged violation of its Policy on CampusDisruptions, we write to raise the question of whether Stanford Law School is out of compliance with the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Standard 405(b) of the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools (ABA Standards). Standard 405(b) requires a law school to have an established and announced policy with respect to academic freedom and tenure.”
Reps. Foxx and Owens conclude: “In no sense can it be said that Stanford Law School adhered to its announced encouragement of the ‘widest range of viewpoints.’ And in no sense were Judge Duncan’s viewpoints ‘free from . . . internal or external coercion.’ … In light of all the facts and circumstances surrounding Judge Duncan’s March 9, 2023, visit to Stanford Law School, we urge you and the Council to initiate a proceeding under Rule 11 of the ABA’s Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools to determine whether Stanford Law School was or is noncompliant with the ABA Council’s accreditation Standards.”
