Recall that on Jan. 9, the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville announced as its next law school dean Emily Suski, associate dean of Strategic and Institutional Priorities at the University of South Carolina. UA-Fayetteville rescinded that offer less than a week later after receiving input from "key external stakeholders"--i.e., significant elected officials who remain very concerned about the direction of legal education in Arkansas and throughout the country. Shortly thereafter, the university announced that it would appoint an interim dean and contemplate a new search for a permanent dean at some point thereafter.

On March 10, the university revealed that it had narrowed the interim dean choices to two professors at the Fayetteville law school. When I asked whether the aforementioned key external stakeholders were consulted in choosing these two finalists, the school said, uh, no. No appointment has occurred since.

While the interim position might generally seem (and should be) relatively inconsequential, the person chosen in this instance will likely hold that job for some time, as no new committee for the permanent dean even yet exists. The most pressing question for that forthcoming interim dean: whether he intends to move legal education in a direction that restores tolerance of viewpoint diversity.

Consider the 2022 American Bar Association mandate requiring law schools to provide training on "bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism"--both at the beginning of law school and again before graduation. Do you really believe that this differs from the claim I heard from a law professor at a conference that she trains students to become social justice warriors? And do you think any of the "training" presents a picture of this nation as one that has sought out our better angels and exorcised demons of the past? I doubt it.

Indeed, what stands out is not merely the substance of the rule itself, which in implementation is no doubt leftist inculcation, but also the near unanimity among legal educators in supporting........

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