Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

The Boycotters Glass Houses

Dave Hoffman:

I was thinking more overnight about the absurd proposed AALS boycott being pushed by the Legal Writing Institute. The LWI, like the AALS, is a large organization of law professors, with “over 2,100 members.” Like the AALS, the LWI is governed by academics, in the case of the LWI, a Board of Directors. It struck me that these Board members, who apparently support the organization’s proposal to boycott a meeting because the owner of the hotel hosting it donates to a cause they dislike, might be living in glass houses. The Board is huge, so here’s just a select list…

Linda Berger, Board Member, teaches at Mercer’s Walter F. George School of Law. Walter F. George? Yes, that guy.

Robin Boyle, Board Member, teaches at St. John’s University, which is a Catholic University. Hey, don’t the Catholic Bishops of NY have a position on same-sex marriage?

Anne Enquist, Board Member, teaches at Seattle. A jesuit university. Yes, those jesuits.

Michael Higdon, Board Member, teaches at the William Boyd School of Law (UNLV). Boyd, a gaming executive, supports republicans. Scary.

Ruth Robbins, President of the Board, teaches at Rutgers-Camden. I’m sure at least one of these people hates puppies.

Terry Seligman, Board Member, teaches at the Earle Mack School of Law (a.k.a., the provisionally-accredited Drexel Law School). Earle Mack is another huge republican donor.

How will these Board members remedy their institutions’ reliance on conservative cash? I suggest a self-boycott.