{"id":127740,"date":"2023-05-16T00:08:15","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T04:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=127740"},"modified":"2023-05-15T23:56:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T03:56:04","slug":"student-group-wants-to-ban-fossil-fuel-lawyers-from-law-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/student-group-wants-to-ban-fossil-fuel-lawyers-from-law-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Student group wants to ban \u2018fossil fuel lawyers\u2019 from law schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

Law student activists want peers dissuaded from working for oil and gas companies<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A group of law students want to see \u201cfossil fuel lawyers” prevented from \u201cserving in law school governance\u201d or teaching classes.<\/p>\n

Law Students for Climate Accountability laid out its demands in a report<\/a> that ranked law schools based on how many \u201cfossil fuel lawyers\u201d they produced.<\/p>\n

The group also urged schools to curtail their \u201cacademic opportunities focused on fossil fuels\u201d to dissuade students from that career path. It is funded<\/a> by the Earth Island Institute.<\/p>\n

The College Fix<\/em> reached out to the law student group and asked what steps universities should take to separate professors from the oil and gas industry, if it wanted universities to fire current professors who worked for these companies, and if individuals who formerly worked at oil corporations should also lose their jobs.<\/p>\n

Neither the group nor its current director Haley Czarnek responded to multiple emailed requests for comment in the past several weeks. Czarnek graduated from the University of Alabama\u2019s law school in 2022.<\/p>\n

The group regularly protests events, including a 2021 Federalist Society event at Yale Law School featuring Paul, Weiss attorney Kannon Shanmugam (pictured<\/em>).<\/p>\n

A law professor at George Washington University and a legal commentator criticized the students for their demands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is only the latest example of speech intolerance on our campuses,\u201d Professor Jonathan Turley told The College Fix<\/em> via email. \u201cClimate change is one of the foremost debates of this generation but many would like that debate to be little more than a diatribe. There are people of good faith on both sides of these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noting the relevance of this debate to law students, Turley said \u201cthe underlying legal issues are complex and often raise a myriad of related constitutional and contractual issues. A vibrant institution of higher education welcomes such diversity of opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turley also said \u201cthere are actually few conservatives left to cull from faculties. The number of conservatives or libertarians on faculties has been falling for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American Association of University Professors did not respond to requests for comment. It recently shared a resource with The Fix<\/em> for a different article that explained why it opposes bans on industry-funded research.<\/p>\n

Another free speech group, PEN America, said it does not currently “have a position on this issue. But we are following developments.\u201d Suzanne Trimel, the spokesperson, made similar comments<\/a> to The Fix<\/em> when asked about efforts to ban funding of academic research from oil and gas companies. In contrast, the group recently defended<\/a> a Wayne State University professor who wrote on Facebook it would be better to kill right-wing \u201ctransphobes\u201d than to just \u201cshout them down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Law Students for Climate Accountability has encouraged others who agree with its views that lawyers are not \u201cneutral actors\u201d to write similar reports on \u201cissues such as labor justice, reproductive justice, immigration justice and abolition.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Harvard activists want law professor to resign from oil company board<\/a><\/p>\n

Activists founded<\/a> Law Students for Climate Accountability in 2020 as a follow-up to the #DropExxon campaign, where students from several law schools picketed recruiting events for the law firm Paul, Weiss and tried to pressure the firm to drop its client Exxon.<\/p>\n

Harvard law students yelled out of a megaphone during a formal restaurant dinner in 2021 sponsored by Paul, Weiss, brought a large #DropExxon banner and shouted at the visiting attorneys. One student accused the firm of \u201cclimate murder.\u201d Yale students waged a similar protest<\/a>.<\/p>\n