This letter is open for students, UC Hastings Faculty & Staff, UC Hastings alum, and other concerned parties to sign.

***LETTER SUBMITTED TO THE UC HASTING DEANS on 03/21/2022*** If you did not fill out this before March 21, 2022, 8:50pm PST, you may not have been included in the letter to the deans, but we do appreciate your solidarity and support. We may have the opportunity to add additional names at a later date, so please sign on after the above mentioned date/time, if you feel inclined.

*If you do not have a Gmail, email madeline.cline@uchastings.edu to sign the letter*

Dear David L. Faigman, Grace Hum, and Morris Ratner,

We, the undersigned, write in response to the Deans’ email from March 2, 2022. We also write to reiterate that the overarching issues faced by Black students, students of color, and other marginalized communities on the UC Hastings campus are rooted in the prevalence of white supremacy and misogyny, and are not tied to the single Federalist Society event.

Marginalized students do not feel welcomed on this campus, and our concerns have not been adequately addressed. Based on the Campus Climate Advisory Committee assessment released last year (2021), “43% of respondents experienced exclusionary, intimidating, offensive, and/or hostile conduct within the past two years. Higher percentages of Respondents of Color (including Multiracial) (40%, n=25) and Asian/Pacific Islander respondents (38%, n=12) than White respondents (8%, n=6) who had experienced exclusionary, intimidating, offensive, and/or hostile conduct indicated that the conduct was based on their ethnicity (p.83).”

Prior to the presence of Mr. Shapiro and prior to the return of the UC Hastings Federalist Society, Black students and other students of color had already expressed their concerns to the administration about an unwelcoming and discriminatory learning environment on the UC Hastings campus based on issues of institutional racism, white supremacy, and lack of disciplinary action for racist and offensive incidents from students, faculty, and staff.

Mr. Shapiro was on our campus during his administrative leave from Georgetown Law fo r his racist and sexist tweets on the same topic he would discuss at the Federalist Society event. Given this context, t he Deans’ email from March 2, 2022, struck a painful chord because of the Deans’ refusal to acknowle dge the long-standing and well-documented concerns of marginalized, particularly Black, students, or accept any responsibility for their failures to take sufficient preventative measures to minimize the foreseeable harms this Federalist Society event would cause on our campus. As budding and current legal professionals, we respect the reminder that academic freedom and free speech are an essential part of legal learning, and we agree. Furthermore, we contend that the learning that stems from spirited debate can only occur when ALL students feel welcomed, represented, respected, and valued in the learning environment. This is clearly not the case at UC Hastings.

Rather than addressing the larger contextual issues of race and inequity at UC Hastings and the constitutionally protected right of students to protest, the Deans’ chose to focus their response in that letter on defending free speech rights of Mr. Shapiro. By threatening disciplinary action for student demonstrators, the Deans not only continued a pattern of ignoring BIPOC student trauma, pain, and concern, but created new trauma, pain, and concern for student organizers and protesters. To date, the Deans have listened to student organizers but have failed to demonstrate that they understand the experiences or respect the perspectives of marginalized students. We continue to insist the Deans have a professional and moral responsibility to improve, progress, and ready itself to adequately address systemic inequities within this institution. To that end,

WE DEMAND:

(1) No disciplinary actions will be taken against students who exercised their free speech rights on March 1, 2022.
(2) UC Hastings administration will work to transparently create an on-campus event procedure, similar to procedures done at UCLA Law, where student organizations provide substantial information regarding their event including information on the potential volatile nature of events and a dedicated staff member who helps student organizations execute thoughtful and enriching programs.
(3) UC Hastings administration will add additional student seats to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group and Campus Climate Advisory Committee and current and future students serving on DEIWG will be justly compensated for their time and work as DEIWG research assistants.
(4) UC Hastings will prioritize the hiring of tenured and tenure-track faculty members who have a specialization in Critical Race Theory, Race and the Law, and/or Identity Subordination with an emphasis on anti-Blackness, as other UC law campuses have done.
(5) UC Hastings will require students to complete a Critical Race Theory or race and law course as a graduation requirement, similar to the requirement recently instituted at UC Berkeley School of Law.
(6) UC Hastings will hire third-party, non-UC Hastings affiliated consultants who specialize in BIPOC subordination to advise on creating an accountable and transformative learning environment where all students can thrive.
(7) UC Hastings will expand support services similar to the LEOP program, through additional staff and funding, such that all first generation and underrepresented students are given an opportunity to access such resources and support.
(8) UC Hastings administration will institute regular town hall meetings, at least once per semester, to keep communication lines open and available to all students. These meetings will be facilitated by non-UC Hastings diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals.
(9) UC Hastings will require faculty to undergo intensive diversity, equity, and inclusive training and education by outside professionals before advising student organizations.
(10) UC Hastings administration will take substantial action on the demands included above, and notify all students of the administration's progress in a manner that is transparent and publicly accessible, such as the all student email list serve, on or before March 31, 2022.