Getting minds right at Yale: Dean Gerken regrets [with comment by Paul]

The controversy triggered by Yale Law School student Trent Colbert’s exposure of the “diversity” bureaucracy in action has made waves on waters about which Yale cares. YLS Dean Heather Gerken has tried to surf the waves. The Washington Free Beacon’s Aaron Sibarium broke Colbert’s story and continues to own it. In his most recent update Sibarium reports on Gerken’s temporary wipeout:

The dean of Yale Law School expressed “regret” Wednesday for her administration’s role in the now-infamous “trap house” incident but stopped short of apologizing to second-year law student Trent Colbert or the Federalist Society for their treatment at the hands of university administrators.

In a law school-wide email, Dean Heather Gerken took “full responsibility” for the “things the Law School administration should have done differently.”

“No student or student group should ever have reason to believe that administrators are acting in a biased or unfair manner, and I deeply regret that this impression was given in this instance,” Gerken wrote, referring to the administration’s public denunciation of an email invitation Colbert sent in September and its alleged suggestions to Federalist Society president Zack Austin that he and his group put Colbert up to the task.

Gerken’s email, which summarized the findings of an investigation by Deputy Dean Ian Ayres, did not mention Colbert by name and attributed the incident to poor communication.

“I have spent every year of my deanship trying to foster an inclusive community and create an environment where students feel called into the community rather than called out,” Gerken said. “The email message from administrators to members of the 2L class”—in which Associate Dean Ellen Cosgrove and Diversity Director Yaseen Eldik condemned Colbert’s “racist” message “in the strongest possible terms”—”did not strike the appropriate balance between those two goals.”

Still, Gerken said, Eldik and Cosgrove were merely “attempting to carry out their obligations under University policy whenever discrimination complaints are filed.”

What a phony and pathetic non-apology. Mistakes were made, if you felt that way. Gerken is a disgrace along with the institution she nominally leads.

Sibarium’s story includes a redacted copy of Dean Gerken’s email and further updates to the story. Attending the Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention, David Lat picked up almost unbelievable elements additive to Sibarium’s look inside the asylum.

PAUL ADDS: I agree with Scott that Gerkin’s statement is disgraceful. She did not apologize to the only victim here — the student, Mr. Colbert.

The Stalinist-style diversity thugs who harmed him go unpunished. They aren’t even reprimanded.

Gerken lets them off-the-hook by purporting to take “full responsibility” for their actions. This is a dodge.

If Gerkin were fully responsible, the only honorable course would be to resign. But primary responsibility rests not with Gerken but with the administrators who tried to terrorize Colbert. They should be fired, reassigned, or at least disciplined in some formal way.

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