Mitchell Hamline Adjunct Law Professor Resigns, Claiming School Supports Antisemitism

Law.com, Mitchell Hamline Law Professor Resigns, Claiming School Supports Antisemitism:

A Mitchell Hamline School of Law professor has resigned over the school’s response to the Israel-Hamas war and another professor at the school has come under heavy criticism for social media posts in support of Palestine.

Melissa Weiner was an adjunct/affiliated professor at Mitchell Hamline Law and serves as an executive committee member on the Board for Public Justice, which is not affiliated with the law school, in the role of chair of the development committee, according to her faculty bio.

A spokesperson from the law school told Law.com on Tuesday that Weiner was not teaching a class this semester. She said she was scheduled to teach in the spring. ...

Weiner, who is a partner at Pearson Warshaw, resigned from all her roles, including serving on the Food Law Center Advisory Board at the school, telling Law.com in an email Tuesday, “I cited my resignation ‘as a result of my extreme displeasure with Mitchell Hamline’s response to the terror attacks perpetrated against the Jewish people by Hamas on Oct. 7,’” which “‘includes its lack of leadership in its initial response’” and “‘refusal to distance itself from the hate speech emanating from inside the institution, for which it is allowing its institutional access to young minds to be exploited.’”

Yael Nathanson, a Mitchell Hamline 3L, told Law.com on Monday that she and many other students and faculty have been upset by X (formerly Twitter) posts from T. Anansi Wilson, director of the Center for the Study of Black Life and the Law and associate professor of law at Mitchell Hamline.

Wilson, who received their J.D. from Howard University School of Law in 2017 and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2021, joined Mitchell Hamline in 2021, according to their faculty bio.

On Oct. 9, Wilson posted an image to their X (formerly Twitter) account saying, “Justice for Palestine.” Their X account was switched to private Tuesday afternoon. 

Referring to law firms that have been rescinding offers to law students—like Winston & Strawn who rescinded its job offer to Ryna Workman, an NYU Law student—for speaking out in support of Palestine, Wilson said on social media, “The anti-Blackness and utter racism of trying to get Black people fired, or damage their careers & ability to provide, for sharing an opinion that makes you feel a way is deeply, horrifyingly familiar, according to an Oct. 19 article on Truthout.org.

“The practice of curtailing Black speech and political rights/activity, was a primary impetus for lynchings,” Wilson had said in his post. “It is a reminder that disobedience to the will of the white majority, is a threat to our lives; always, already.”

Nathanson questioned Mitchell Hamline’s decision to hire and keep on someone who is “so unprofessional and inappropriate and uncivil in their social media presence.”

But in an email to Law.com on Monday, Wilson defended their statements. “I have long been a proponent and scholar of human rights, civil rights, self-determination, democracy,” Wilson said in the email. “It is unfortunate that my concern for, and public scholarship around, the potential for a historic loss of human life has been interpreted or experienced as a willful and threatening attempt to cause harm,” saying that was never their intent or desired impact.