Yale Law School professor Amy Chua, who supported Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the months leading up to his nomination to the Supreme Court, now says that she is being targeted by individuals within the university who oppose the so-called “controversial” opinions she has expressed. Chua is now calling for an independent investigation into how her personal files were leaked to the press.
Law professor Amy Chua will no longer be teaching a first-year small group at the Yale Law School after students accused her of still hosting private dinner parties, according to a report by Yale Daily News.
Chua responded to the Yale Daily News article by taking to Twitter to share a letter she had sent to her colleagues, which read, in part, “I am being targeted by ‘a small group of students’ who have never taken a class from me and who oppose ‘controversial’ opinions I’ve expressed.”
In her letter, the professor explained that to her “utter shock,” she had received a media inquiry from Yale Daily News, “who informed me that she was ‘working on an article about how you will not be leading a small group at the law school next year’ and that ‘there will likely be a formal announcement about it on Monday.'”
“This was the first I’d heard of this,” Chua said.
The professor added that she then emailed Law School Dean Heather Gerken to ask how the reporter got the information, and why she is the last person to find out about it.
During a Zoom call regarding the matter, Chua said she was “treated absolutely degradingly, like a criminal,” and that Gerken had confirmed that “she had in fact decided that I was to be removed from the Small Group roster for next year, and (she said) she had been planning to tell me on Monday.”
“But instead of explaining how this information had made it the Daily News before being communicated to me, or why I’d been suddenly stripped of teaching a Small Group — Heather said it was time for me to ‘be candid,'” Chua continued in her letter.
The professor added that Gerken repeatedly said, “This is the time for you to be candid, Amy,” and asked over and over, “Did you have a federal judge to your house with students?”
“I honestly had no idea what she was talking about, and I felt that I was in an inquisition,” Chua wrote. “I was distraught and totally confused. I kept asking what was going on. A federal judge over to my house with students?! No, no, no, I told her. The suggestion is not only 100% false but (during COVID) ludicrous.”
Chua is now calling for an independent investigation into how her personal files were leaked to the press.
“I respectfully request an outside investigation into the disclosure of confidential and private personnel information about me, as described below,” the professor wrote.
Chua’s letter continued:
As I wrack my brain to try to imagine what “dinner parties” with students they could possibly be referring to, I can only think of a few possibilities—all of which I not only stand by, but am proud of. As many of you know, there were a number of serious crises for our students in the last few months, including a student sending racist and terrifying violent messages to other students (and then disappearing), accusations of racism at the Law Journal, and most recently the outburst of anti-Asian violence that’s been in the news. In the midst of these events, a few students in extreme distress reached out to me, feeling that they had no one else to turn to, many of them feeling that the law school administration was not supporting them. Because we could not meet in the law school building, we met at my house, and I did my best to support them and console them. One of the students had received death threats; another student was sobbing because of violence directed at her mother. Jed was not present. On my own time, I’ve responded to students’ cries for help and tried my hardest to mentor and comfort students in times of crisis when they feel hopeless and alone—and for this, it appears, I’m being punished and publicly humiliated without anything remotely resembling due process.
“I stand by my record of service to this school, and I could not be prouder of the help and support I’ve tried to give our students,” the professor continued.
“For what it’s worth, dozens of current and graduated students submitted emails protesting the School’s decision and attesting to the positive impact I’ve had in their lives, the majority of them (I believe) from students from minority or marginalized communities,” Chua added.
In 2018, Chua wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled, “Kavanaugh Is a Mentor To Women,” praising then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh for his mentorship of women.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler @alana, and on Instagram.
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