By way of a public letter to alumni of Yale Law, Dean Heather Gerken defended the school’s approach to free speech and the “free and unfettered exchange of ideas” on campus. She outlined recent actions the school has taken to promote free speech, which, she notes, while readily apparent to students, faculty, and staff, they should also be known to the broader community. The institutional actions listed include the hiring of a new Dean of Students to support student discourse, disagreement, and resolution, revisions to the disciplinary code that prohibit secret recordings that discourage free expression, as well as the provision of free speech resources and a physical space to encourage students to meet and discuss disagreements face-to-face.
The letter comes on the heels of—but does not specifically reference—Judge James Ho’s (5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals) public announcement that he will no longer hire clerks from Yale law due to its “cancel culture.” In his declaration, he called out incidents in which conservative speakers were disrupted when speaking at Yale. "Cancellations and disruptions seem to occur with special frequency," he said. Judge Ho also called on other judges to join him. Currently, U.S. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Branch is the only one to do so publicly. According to Reuters, over a half-dozen Republican-appointed federal district and appeals court judges have voiced that they have either no plans to join the boycott or that they actively oppose it. Ho’s fellow 5th Circuit Judge Jerry Smith, a Reagan appointee and Yale Alumni, responded to the ban in writing. “I regularly (and recently) have had Yale clerks who, consistently, are extremely talented and performed spectacularly in upholding the rule of law and supporting toleration for diverse viewpoints,” he wrote. “Instead of boycotting, I hope to receive even more Yale applications from qualified men and women, not only this year but in future years.”