On March 22, 2019, George Mason University’s school newspaper, the Fourth Estate, released an article written by Lauren Sullivan and Dana Nickel leaking the news about Brett Kavanaugh being hired as a visiting professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School. Since then, the little information revealed to the student body had been seen by many, but we still have questions.
What we know:
We know that Kavanaugh will be teaching at the Antonin Scalia Law School from the date of June 25th, 2019 to June 24th, 2022. He will be acting as a visiting professor and teach a summer study abroad course in Runnymede, England on the “Creation if the Constitution.”
What we need to know:
We need to know what influenced the law school to hire Kavanaugh and who exactly made that decision. We also need to know why they are willing to hire someone who has been accused of sexual assault when it is in the university’s interest to support and advocate for sexual assault survivors. As we have seen from the many events occurring on campus within the past couple of years, sexual assault is a very big problem that needs to be addressed on a larger scale. Not having an adequate amount of Title XI staff compared to the student population and not properly supporting the survivors at our university through actions shows that there needs to be a call for action.
Kavanaugh has previously taught at Harvard Law but indicated that he could no longer teach his class for the January 2019 term. This came after a petition was signed by Harvard Law Alumni calling for the school to rescind Kavanaugh’s title as a lecturer. This also followed the sexual assault allegations that were made against Kavanaugh as he was being nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court. These past events have shown that many students feel uncomfortable or unsure of the idea of Kavanaugh being a professor at their institution and teaching the next generation of law students.
Collegiettes, if you need someone to talk to, know that there are resources for you on campus such as CAPS and SSAC. Let your voice be heard and do what is best for you.