*GWU struggles to figure out why they honored this
guy.
Bill Barr is presumably not concerned about losing a fake
degree. He may not even know where he’s stashed the honorary degree
that George Washington University Law School gave him in 1992. His
J.D. from the same school in 1977 is a more important keepsake. In
the end, that’s the only chit they won’t be able to take from him
as his legacy as “dumb John Mitchell” solidifies and he becomes
just another obscure Jeopardy! response.
But when a law school faculty is fed up watching their good name
get sullied by dint of association with a guy, they feel compelled
to do something and there’s no act more drastic in legal academia
than initiating an internal faculty debate.
The George Washington Law faculty is in turmoil this week as a
“serious” effort is underway to strip
Barr of the honor the school afforded him years ago[1]:
The push, which one source described as “serious,” was met
by opposition from other members who argued that Barr’s
actions—while aggressive and controversial—did not merit such a
punishment from the university. For now, it appears Barr will keep
his degree, amid warnings that it could send the university down a
slippery slope of politically motivated
degree-rescinding.
The slippery slope, paved by a thousand “Stonewall Jackson
Avenues,” is always the last refuge of casual violence. It
continues its undefeated reign as the logical fallacy of choice for
anyone interested in draping immorality in the faux high-minded
vestments of amorality. “We’re not saying we agree, but we just think the real injustice would be
disagreeing.”
This one really isn’t that hard. A law school doesn’t have to
stand for much but it at least has to stand for the rule of law or
it’s just $200K and three years of reading Enlightenment fan
fiction. Gassing peaceful protesters, illegally bringing National Guard troops into
Washington[2], and
hiring… whoever
the hell these paramilitary shocktroops are[3], all
safely fall outside the confines of “respecting the rule of law.”
Taking away a fake degree — and perhaps the “William P. Barr Dean’s
Suite” that graces the school — would seem the very least that the
school could do to protect their legacy.
But a better question is what prompted the school to award Barr
an honorary degree at all? He received this honor in 1992 when he
was Attorney General the first time, a tenure marked by
aggressively covering up the Iran-Contra scandal where Republicans
gave weapons to folks arming terrorists so they could arm their own
band of terrorists. Even then we weren’t exactly talking about an
upstanding defender of the rule of law.
Maybe if some faculty find the present circumstances too
slippery, they can find purchase asking if the school should have
given Barr an honorary degree in the first place.
Culled from abovethelaw.com
*GWU struggles to figure out why they honored this
guy.
Bill Barr is presumably not concerned about losing a fake
degree. He may not even know where he’s stashed the honorary degree
that George Washington University Law School gave him in 1992. His
J.D. from the same school in 1977 is a more important keepsake. In
the end, that’s the only chit they won’t be able to take from him
as his legacy as “dumb John Mitchell” solidifies and he becomes
just another obscure Jeopardy! response.
But when a law school faculty is fed up watching their good name
get sullied by dint of association with a guy, they feel compelled
to do something and there’s no act more drastic in legal academia
than initiating an internal faculty debate.
The George Washington Law faculty is in turmoil this week as a
“serious” effort is underway to strip
Barr of the honor the school afforded him years ago[1]:
The push, which one source described as “serious,” was met
by opposition from other members who argued that Barr’s
actions—while aggressive and controversial—did not merit such a
punishment from the university. For now, it appears Barr will keep
his degree, amid warnings that it could send the university down a
slippery slope of politically motivated
degree-rescinding.
The slippery slope, paved by a thousand “Stonewall Jackson
Avenues,” is always the last refuge of casual violence. It
continues its undefeated reign as the logical fallacy of choice for
anyone interested in draping immorality in the faux high-minded
vestments of amorality. “We’re not saying we agree, but we just think the real injustice would be
disagreeing.”
This one really isn’t that hard. A law school doesn’t have to
stand for much but it at least has to stand for the rule of law or
it’s just $200K and three years of reading Enlightenment fan
fiction. Gassing peaceful protesters, illegally bringing National Guard troops into
Washington[2], and
hiring… whoever
the hell these paramilitary shocktroops are[3], all
safely fall outside the confines of “respecting the rule of law.”
Taking away a fake degree — and perhaps the “William P. Barr Dean’s
Suite” that graces the school — would seem the very least that the
school could do to protect their legacy.
But a better question is what prompted the school to award Barr
an honorary degree at all? He received this honor in 1992 when he
was Attorney General the first time, a tenure marked by
aggressively covering up the Iran-Contra scandal where Republicans
gave weapons to folks arming terrorists so they could arm their own
band of terrorists. Even then we weren’t exactly talking about an
upstanding defender of the rule of law.
Maybe if some faculty find the present circumstances too
slippery, they can find purchase asking if the school should have
given Barr an honorary degree in the first place.
Culled from abovethelaw.com