Stanford Law School Associate Dean Ousted After Shouting Down Guest Federal Judge

The Stanford Law School associate dean who egged on students shouting down a conservative federal judge has apparently been ousted from the school.

Tieren Steinbach, the associate dean for diversity equity and inclusion who was already placed on leave in April over the incident, is resigning to seek another position, Stanford Law School dean Jenny Martinez announced last week in a school-wide email.

In the email Martinez reproached Steinbach over the March 9 incident at the school in which she followed students shouting down Judge Kyle Duncan when he attempted to speak by berating the jurist for the “harm” he was supposedly causing students because of his “abhorrent” rulings that “literally denies the humanity of people.”

“Associate Dean Steinbach and I both hope that SLS can move forward as a community from the divisions caused by the March 9 event,” Martinez wrote.

“Although Associate Dean Steinbach intended to de-escalate the tense situation when she spoke at the March 9 event, she recognizes that the impact of her statements was not as she hoped or intended,” Martinez said.

“Both Dean Steinbach and Stanford recognize ways they could have done better in addressing the very challenging situation, including preparing for protests, ensuring university protocols are understood, and helping administrators navigate tensions when they arise. There are opportunities for growth and learning all around.”

Judge Duncan, who was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit by President Donald Trump, was invited to speak at the school March 9 by the school’s Federalist Society chapter. Students were particularly enraged at Duncan over a 2020 opinion in which he refused to use the preferred pronouns of a male prisoner claiming to be female.

The moment Duncan tried to speak students yelled at him “we hope your daughters get raped” and carried signs with puerile slogans such as “RESPECT TRANS RIGHTS,” “FEDSUCK,” “BE PRONOUN NOT PRO-BIGOT,” and “JUDGE DUNCAN CAN’T FIND THE CLIT.”

For 10 minutes, as he tried to speak,  students yelled over him by saying things such as  “You couldn’t get into Stanford!” “You’re not welcome here, we hate you!” “Why do you hate black people?!” “Leave and never come back!” “We hate FedSoc students, fuck them, they don’t belong here either!” and “We do not respect you and you have no right to speak here! This is our jurisdiction!”

Finally, Duncan stepped aside from the podium and asked for an administrator.

Steinbach took the stage and proceeded to read from a written speech in which she suggested Duncan’s speech was just too costly. “For many people here, your work has caused harm,”she said, asking Duncan “Is the juice worth the squeeze?”

 “I had to write something down because I am so uncomfortable up here,” she said. “And I don’t say that for sympathy, I just say that I am deeply, deeply uncomfortable. I’m uncomfortable because this event is tearing at the fabric of this community that I care about, and I’m here to support.”

“And, again, I ask is the juice worth the squeeze? Is this worth the pain that this causes and the division that this causes?”

Right after the fracas Judge Duncan had urged Stanford to fire Steinbach, describing her treatment of him as “a bizarre therapy session from hell.”

Days later Stanford Law School dean Jenny Martinez and then Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne wrote to Judge Duncan to offer their “sincere apologies” for the way he was treated. The next month Martinez announced that Steinbach had been placed on leave.

Glenn Ricketts, spokesman for the National Association of Scholars, which promotes academic freedom, told the California Globe that the ousting of Steinbach was a welcome development. And surprising given that administrators and students usually work in tandem with impunity to suppress free speech on college campuses.

“She basically joined the hecklers and told the speaker that he was the problem, so what else could he expect?  I’m surprised and pleased that Stanford hasn’t simply circled the wagons and dismissed critics as “racists,” as so often happens with such incidents.”