Yale Law Dean Expresses Concern Over Professors Caught In Kavanaugh Crosshairs
The dean of Yale Law School penned a letter to the school Thursday, in which she expressed concern over reports that professors advised female students preparing for a clerkship interview with Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh on how to dress and act to fit a “certain look,” Talking Points Memo reported.
Heather Gerken encouraged those with similar stories to report any misconduct.
“The Law School has a responsibility to provide a safe environment in which all of our students can live and learn in a community of mutual respect, free of harassment of any kind,” she wrote in the letter.
A former student told HuffPost that Amy Chua, a Yale Law School professor known for her book “The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” said Kavanaugh’s clerks “look like models,” and urged her to send pictures of her interview outfit to evaluate. Chua’s husband, professor Jed Rubenfeld, also told the student that Kavanaugh was known to hire female clerks with a “certain look.”
Chua publicly defended Kavanaugh’s nomination in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, “Kavanaugh is a Mentor to Women,” and Chua and Rubenfeld’s daughter recently accepted a clerkship with him.
The law school is currently investigating allegations of Rubenfeld’s misconduct, the Guardian reported Thursday.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.