Yale Law School Students Hold Sit-In to Protest Brett Kavanaugh
On Monday, September 24, people across the country are wore black and participated in protests to support the women accusing Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Among the protestors: students at Yale Law School, the Supreme Court nominee’s alma mater.
According to Law & Crime, 31 classes were cancelled at Yale Law School in light of a full day of scheduled protests which began, the Hartford Courant reported, with students, clad in black, filling the hallways of the Sterling Law Building for a silent sit-in. Two women, Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, have separately come forward to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Ramirez was Kavanaugh’s classmate at Yale for their undergraduate years. Kavanaugh has denied both accusations, but today’s protests reinforce calls for formal investigations into both.
“As a community, we are here today to show that we take allegations of sexual assault and harassment seriously,” one of the organizers of the sit-in said, as reported by the Hartford Courant. “We are here today to discuss the very real threat that Brett Kavanaugh poses to this country.”
After a silent sit-in, the protest continued with remarks from multiple speakers, including current Yale Law School students and sitting Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who is also a Yale Law alumnus. One student speaker referenced Anita Hill, a Yale Law graduate who shared her allegations of sexual harassment against then Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 1991. Thomas was later confirmed and currently serves on the high court. “Anita Hill, as a woman of color, as a black woman was not believed not just because of her gender but because of her race,” the speaker said on Monday, according to a Hartford Courant reporter. “These intersectionality concerns can not be erased today.”
Speaking to reporters outside, Sen. Blumenthal said that both Dr. Ford and Ramirez “plainly have survived a sexual assault. It has been a time of terror and anguish for them and the pain and anguish they’ve chosen to endure speaks to their credibility as does their desire for an FBI investigation. They have a right to tell their stories when and how they wish. They should be heard, respectfully and full and there should be an investigation.”
The senator echoed those sentiments while addressing the students inside the law building. “There is no way that the U.S. Senate, in good conscience, can vote on this nomination without a full investigation,” Sen. Blumenthal said, according to tweets from Yale Law student Josh Rubin, before adding, “This nomination is unraveling in real time.”
Monday’s campus protest continued into the afternoon as well. According to a schedule shared on Twitter, the sit-in also included a walkout, political action, healing and community building, and a press conference to close the day.
And in addition to the on-campus events, Rhode Island Public Radio reported that 100 students traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in protests at the Supreme Court and possibly meet with senators on Capitol Hill. One student, Jacob Schriner-Briggs, shared videos on Twitter of gatherings outside the offices of Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), where sexual assault survivors shared their own stories. Jacob noted in one Twitter post that police issued at least two warnings, though it’s unclear if any arrests were made.
Monday’s events are not the first time Yale community members have spoken out about Kavanaugh. According to the New Haven Register, on July 10 (the day after Kavanaugh’s nomination), a group of students, faculty, and alumni shared an open letter to Dean Heather Gerken and Yale Law School leadership stating they were “ashamed” following the school’s glowing press release issued a day prior. Two days later, a separate group of students, faculty, and alumni issued a letter in support of the judge.
On September 21, in the wake of Ford’s allegations, The Washington Post reported that 47 members of Yale Law School’s faculty issued yet another letter — this one addressed to the Senate Judiciary Committee, urging the Senate to “conduct a fair and deliberate confirmation process.” Citing a concern about a “rush" to judgment, the group wrote, “Where, as here, a sexual assault has been alleged against an individual nominated for a lifetime appointment in a position of public trust, a partisan hearing alone cannot be the forum to determine the truth of the matter.”
Meanwhile, Yale Law School is investigating allegations that two professors may have inappropriately advised female students who were looking to become law clerks for Judge Kavanaugh on their looks. On September 20, The Guardian reported that according to a source, professor Amy Chua — who often vetted clerkship candidates — is alleged to have privately told law students that it was “not an accident” that the judge’s female clerks “looked like models” and provided advice on how to project a similar look in order to get a clerkship. The same report included a source who alleged that Jed Rubenfeld, a professor who is married to Chua, once told a student “Kavanaugh hires women with a certain look.”
On September 23, a spokesman for Chua and Rubenfeld released a statement to faculty members and students denying the allegations, Inside Higher Ed reported. “Everything that is being said about the advice I give to students applying to Brett Kavanaugh — or any judge — is outrageous, 100 percent false, and the exact opposite of everything I have stood for and said for the last 15 years,” Chua said in the statement, later continuing, “I advise students, male and female, to dress professionally — not too casually — and avoid inappropriate clothing.”
In response, a female Yale Law School graduate who says she received advice from Chua about a potential Kavanaugh clerkship, told HuffPost, “She’s lying,” and said Chua specifically advised her against wearing a suit when meeting Kavanaugh.
As for the school, Inside Higher Ed reported that Dean Gerken sent a letter last week to faculty and students referencing “the press reports today regarding allegations of faculty misconduct” and said they “are of enormous concern.” The dean added that the law school and university “thoroughly investigate all complaints regarding violations of university rules and take no options off the table,” though she did specifically comment on the allegations against Chua and Rubenfeld.
The students, on the other hand, continue to speak out. “Remember: A majority of YLS [Yale Law School] professors signed a letter calling for a full investigation, 100+ YLS students are protesting in DC today, and the school itself has been effectively shut down by a sit-in,” student Jesse Tripathi, who signed the initial July 10 letter, wrote on Twitter. “YLS does not support Kavanaugh #CancelKavanaugh.”
Get the Teen Vogue Take. Sign up for the Teen Vogue weekly email.
Want More from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Three 15-Year-Old Girls Penned a Powerful Letter in Support of Christine Blasey Ford
