Saturday, March 4, 2006
Yale to Hold Forum to Discuss Publication of Article by Author Who Made Racist Statements as a Student
In December, we blogged the controversy over the Yale Law Journal's decision to publish a symposium article (Control Mechanisms for Quasipublic Executives: The Intersection of Corporate and Constitutional Law) by Kiwi Alejandro Danao Camara (with Paul Gowder). Camara is the youngest person to ever graduate from Harvard Law School (in 2004) and is now an Olin Fellow in Law & Economics at Stanford.
Yale considered revoking the publication offer because of a property outline Camara posted in an on-line outline bank while at Harvard. The outline warned that it might "contain racially offensive shorthand." blackprof.com notes:
Here is what he said when referring to Shelley v. Kraemer (a seminal Property case on racially restrictive covenants):
"Nigs buy land with no nig covenant; Q: Enforceable?"
Yesterday's Yale Daily News reports that the school will hold a forum next week to address deep divisions surrounding the decision to publish the article. (Hat Tip: Howard Bashman.)
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2006/03/yale_to_hold_fo.html
Those organizing the protests (they call themselves the "Pissed Off Peoples") seem to have forgotten that there are many other forms of racism and injustice that deserve far more attention than that given to Kiwi Camara's actions from five years ago. In my years at YLS, I have rarely seen such a level of anger and interest in protest among the students. I fail to comprehend why Kiwi and the issue of whether he should've been published in the YLJ have ignited such anger among my fellow students.
I suspect that if the black members of the New Haven community (those who do not attend Yale or YLS) found out about how worked up students are getting over "Kiwigate", they would be really pissed off at the Pissed Off People. It's a shame that these bright students are investing so much time and energy into an issue that, relative to the many serious issues blacks face in the world, does not deserve a fraction of the attention it currently receives at my school.
Posted by: La Zapatotista | Mar 11, 2006 3:27:41 PM