UVA Law School Town Hall: Students Respond to White Supremacist in the Library, Faculty Call for No Trespass Order

Why has UVA not issued a No Trespass Order against all organizers of the August 11 torch attack?

Students with the Minority Rights Coalition at the UVA Law School hosted a Town Hall meeting on Thursday, April 19, in response to an incident the previous day in which a known white supremacist entered the Law School library, disturbing students and staff.

A student facilitator introduced the goals of the forum: for students of color and other targeted student groups to hear each other’s feelings and experiences, to hear from two faculty/staff members who have been involved in addressing the white supremacist presence in Charlottesville this past year, and to work in groups to strategize about how to respond to the presence of white supremacists on campus in the future.

Solidarity Cville attended the student forum and took notes on what students were sharing. We did not directly record speakers and therefore do not have direct quotes. This report-back is all paraphrased and cut down for length. If we have inadvertently misrepresented the words of any speakers we invite that person to contact solidaritycville (at) gmail (dot) com so we can make appropriate changes.

Student speakers

Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA)

• White supremacist anti-semitism promotes the idea of a Jewish conspiracy: that Jewish people manipulate media, money, and other resources to empower people of color to get rid of white people.
• The majority of Jewish people on this continent are Ashkenazi Jews, who appear white. It may look like anti-semitism is pushed underground. But there are Jewish traditions and history. Jews are the target of white supremacists like Jason Kessler, who on Wednesday was confronting students for looking Jewish. He said they were evidence of a Jewish conspiracy to harass him. He said Jews and women should not be at the law school.
• Holocaust Remembrance Day was a week before Wednesday. We remember that the Nazis in Germany also killed 9 million people who weren’t Jews. We remember also that Hitler did not rise to power by force. He used the existing democracy. The Nazis here have a long-term plan to get white supremacy into the mainstream.
• We condemn white supremacy in all its insidious forms. We stand with people of color, LGBT people, immigrants, and other minority groups.
• The Jewish concept of tikkun olam is that we all have the responsibility to repair our common community. As we do this repair, we need to ensure that the slogan “Never Again” really means never again.

Black Law Students Association (BLSA)

• When I got a text he was here, I thought, “Oh, there’s an additional white supremacist in the library right now.” I saw him in the library and I saw the confrontation outside the library. I was crying, mad, frustrated. Why did this have to happen during finals?
• I felt embarrassed. My father didn’t want me to come to UVA — he was nervous about Virginia. I moved here on August 12. And then this happened yesterday. Everything is not okay. Did I pick the wrong school?
• I felt alienated. I went back to the library to go get my backpack, and people outside offered to go get it for me. I asked, “Is it safe?” [White] students responded, “it probably is for us. But not for other people,” and looked at me. This is not my school anymore. I can’t even go upstairs and get my backpack. I can’t study like I usually do. Everything is different.
• Consider, when things do escalate, even an incident like yesterday, the aftermath affects some people more than others. I couldn’t just go back and study. I lost three hours.
• I don’t want him here.
• White supremacy is a history we have all inherited. Let’s work with each other and with the Administration to not be complicit. Let’s push ourselves and take risks to ensure that the most vulnerable are not left out to dry.

Lambda Law Alliance

• Jason Kessler dislikes that I’m female and queer, but he is targeting other students more and it’s much harder for them than it is for me. We need to do better.
• I know more than I’d like to about Jason Kessler. I was scared he would hurt one of my friends, or get them charged with a crime. He is dangerous. He uses the criminal justice system to threaten people of color. So I just watched him.
• A police officer asked me why I was watching Jason Kessler and accused me of making Jason Kessler feel unsafe. He said: “Why are you bothering him? He’s done nothing wrong.” Yes he has. He has done a lot wrong. I decided, I’m just gonna cry. I’m white, I don’t get yelled at by police officers often. And then I turned around and everyone was there behind me: Professors, friends, people who quite literally have my back. That is so important.
• If he returns, we need Legal Observers and others with experience to watch him. But hopefully we can keep him off Grounds altogether.

Latin American Law Organization (LALO; formally Voz Latina)

• I was in class when I got the text message, about to give a presentation. I found myself unable to focus. This white supremacist coming to campus had a direct impact on how I was able to perform in school; that will be a thing for a lot of people here for the next three weeks.
• After class, I was meandering the hallways, unable to leave. I have talked with my Mom and Dad about A11 and A12. My mom says, ”remove yourself and leave” if I ever find myself near the white supremacists\. I’ve argued with her. Yesterday, I was unable to leave and felt paralyzed. I saw someone following Jason Kessler holding a sign that said “Blood on your Hands.” I wished I had been able to take action but felt physically unable.
• I am unable to reconcile ignoring him. He is an embodiment of racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia. I cannot understand ignoring a Nazi, in our law school. I don’t think we should ignore it.

South Asian Law Student Association

• I went to my seminar, but did not participate. Then I ran into Jason Kessler after class. I was paralyzed; I ran away. I was embarrassed about running away. He stands for everything I am against.
• For me, what made a difference was all of the people who reached out. People I haven’t talked to in months. It means so much to know you care.
• What a privilege for students who did not have this kind of event affect you. But to see people not care is devastating.
• It means a lot to see so many people here. I’m glad some people use their privilege and time to check on people of color and minorities.

Asian Pacific American Law Students Association

• We stand with the student groups here and the people gathered yesterday in resisting and condemning white supremacy.
• When Jason Kessler came here yesterday, he kept saying he felt threatened, but that’s not true. He stayed here over an hour. He said things like: “Why is it these really Jewish-looking guys are always the ones running their mouths?” He felt emboldened to come to our school to make his point.
• He’s addressing three audiences: his followers, the people he hates, and everyone who stays silent watching. Silence says that this school will tolerate white supremacist attacks on students and staff. Silence is not neutral.
• Not speaking out can come from an expectation of not deserving anything better. This should not be how it is. We deserve better than this. We should not live in a society or community that does not demand something better on our behalf.
• It is paralyzing — yesterday I was physically shaking for hours. I don’t have time for white supremacy making us feel unsafe.
• We didn’t hear anything about this from the Law School administration until late yesterday evening. We talked about emergency response in the past and I’m disappointed we could not figure something out. I just don’t feel like the Law School protected us. No one acknowledged this was happening. Today I was reevaluating why I came here. I began to feel like they would win, and that I don’t matter, because of the color of my skin.
• If the school is serious about inclusion then there’s a lot we need to do. Let our curriculum reflect these issues. We have few classes that focus on race issues. Acknowledge that this racism is the country we live in.

American Constitution Society for Law and Policy

• I was there the whole time. I went to the second floor of the library and was sitting ten feet away from Jason Kessler. I got updates through messages from friends — there was no centralized information coming from the school administration. I was worried it could turn into a shooting. It is so frustrating to feel that I had to choose between risking getting shot or getting up to leave my library. That is not why I came here, not the level of protection and service I expected. I have to put my own values in contradiction to what this law school is providing.
• I am tired of nominal gestures. Concerts and working groups are not enough. How many people who attended that concert are fighting white supremacy?
• Acknowledge it. I’m tired of having to be the angry brown girl and feel like I’m exaggerating or being dramatic to cry, feeling things about people who want me to leave this country or want me dead. Acknowledge us. Stop pretending everything is okay. Reach out. Ask your friends if they need something. I will remember forever that list of friends who reached out to me yesterday.
• Look to fellow activists for guidance. I’ll close with this quote from Angela Davis: “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”

Birthday guest!

• Today is my 25th birthday. Yesterday my heart was in my stomach, tears streaming. I don’t know if this was the worst year of my life or not, but the worst day of my life was August 12 in the streets. That all came back to me in an instant yesterday, wounds ripped open by his presence in our library. Yesterday sucked, but today is a new day. Protect each other, be there for each other, come together. Hold him accountable. Prevent him from coming here to terrorize us again. We will not let white supremacy prevent us from thriving.

Virginia Law Women

• We condemn Jason Kessler and acknowledge the disproportionate burden borne by marginalized groups.

Speakers from the Administration

When the student facilitator began to introduce the small group activity that had been planned, another student interrupts to ask again: “Why didn’t we get any emails yesterday? I think it’s only fair we should be able to know why we did not get an email that this person was on Grounds. Many of us are walking targets to this person.” Dean of the Law School, Risa Goluboff, and Vice-Dean Leslie Kendrick walked to the podium to respond.

Dean Risa Goluboff

• I have a penchant to cry. I am glad to see all of you and proud of what you say that is supportive and critical. We want to do better. I will say, my tears are of pride. I also feel anger, sadness at my inability to protect you. I see that as my job and I failed and I’m sorry.
• (She starts sobbing and has to stop talking.)

Leslie Kendrick, Vice-Dean

• The Dean was off Grounds yesterday meeting alumni. She has been in a working group since A12. It has not produced satisfactory results due to the constraints of consensus. This is an unprecedented event.
• I was also out of town. I was in Richmond presenting a case at the Virginia Supreme Court, and I’m sorry. (She also starts to cry). I’m sorry we weren’t here. Dean Parr was here. He exercised judgment in the moment. Usually alerts do go out. I’m not sure what it should say. Is this going to upset more people? We do not want him to get the better of us.

Dean Goluboff

• My door is always open. We want your ideas. We are working to formulate a policy that will keep this from happening again, but yesterday was the next time we were trying to avoid.
• To hear people say it doesn’t feel like your school anymore, and you don’t know if you made the right choice, breaks my heart. We are gonna fix that. I want everyone to feel safe.

** Message from a community member**: It is imperative that white women, especially those in positions of power like the deans of the university, steel themselves in forums such as this one so that their responses do not further encumber those with whom they are engaged and over whom they possess great power. In this instance, a young black woman asked a direct question of the law school administration: why did the administration fail to alert the school community about the presence of a known white supremacist in the school’s library? When Dean Goluboff took the stage to respond, she immediately started crying and was largely incoherent to the audience for much of the first part of her response. I glanced over to the student who asked the question during Dean Goluboff’s crying; the student and her friend sitting next her looked peeved, though I admit I may have been projecting my own feelings onto them as I was exceedingly annoyed by this display. While I am open to emotionality, even in public spaces, the aforementioned dynamics of power and privilege — and at this event, the immediate feelings of anger and of danger for the students of color and other marginalized students whose concerns were supposed to be centered — must be taken into deep and serious consideration. The emotional response by the two white women deans to the stated concerns of the black student had the effect of softening the deans’ culpability, whether or not that effect was intended. And in softening their culpability, they effectively removed some of the burden of the question as well as the burden of their office from themselves. Instead, both the Dean and Assistant Dean should have responded to the direct question with a direct response, taking on the full responsibility of the duties of their offices in the wake of the terror-inducing presence of a known white supremacist.

Faculty speakers

Ben Doherty, library faculty, speaking at the UVA Law School forum on Thursday, April 19. Not legible in this photo is his hoodie that says “Black Lives Matter.”

Ben Doherty — Library faculty

• The burden of fighting white supremacy falls on Black, Brown, Jewish, LGBTQ, immigrant, Muslim and other marginalized student groups. I want to acknowledge the Black and Brown community members, especially women of color, leading the fight against white supremacy in this city since well before August 11. It is essential that the Law School community realize this fight is not confined to here. This is bigger than the Law School, and that’s good. There’s a whole community of people here who love and protect one another in the fight against white supremacy, and they are here to love and protect you as well.
• Yesterday, Jason Kessler began looking for me and attributing the escalation to me. I wear two hats: as a law library employee and as an anti-racist activist. I do help organize in town. I have confronted Jason Kessler many times before in public (but not at the Law School). I apologize to students who felt targeted if the escalation yesterday can be attributed to my dual roles. I will not stop wearing both hats. I will continue to confront Jason Kessler’s racist views and actions. He caused so much harm to this community on August 11–12 and continues to cause harm as he plans a 2018 reunion rally. He especially causes harm to women of color. I will continue to confront him.
• You all have power. Remember which entity is equipped to take steps to protect you — the UVA Administration. UVA should have issued a No Trespass Order against Jason Kessler on August 11 after the torchlit rally and attack of students and community members. Women of color have suffered serious consequences already; it is time for UVA to bear some of that burden and issue the No Trespass Order.
• I love you all. Exams are coming up, and we will cook grilled cheese in the library for you… and Jason Kessler can’t have any!

Anne Coughlin — Law Faculty

• I encourage you to find forms of protest as members of a loving resisting community. Today, I will talk about your role as lawyers. I am convinced there are at least two legal steps we can take to restrain Jason Kessler. On August 13, I was contacted by faculty about what to do if he returns — how to protect and teach. We should have done these things before, but we are poised now to move them forward.
• #1. Encourage UVA and the Commonwealth Attorney to prosecute the white supremacists who lit torches on campus on August 11. They crossed from speech to violence. They assaulted peaceful protestors. There is a law to punish people who, with intent to intimidate, burn something in public to create apprehension of bodily injury. They encircled a group of students who were chanting “Black Lives Matter.” The students feared for their lives as the white supremacists were stabbing them with torches and flinging fuel over them. They felt they would die. There were police there who made no arrests. The police thought they needed to protect speech. Arrests should have been made that night. And they should be made now. I worked with a group to reach out to students and get statements, to gather video, to create a record to bring to the Commonwealth Attorney. If you are looking for things to do, get in touch with the Board of Visitors and the university administration to ask them to put weight behind the request that the Commonwealth Attorney prosecute the ringleaders of the torchlit rally.
• #2. I looked into No Trespass Orders (NTOs) against Jason Kessler and other ringleaders. We issue NTOs against homeless people who sleep in the library or people who commit minor infractions. Jason Kessler came to campus and attacked our students. We met with the police and UVA leadership. We are told that they are thinking about it. Time is ripe! Get in touch with UVA administration to ask them to act on the record that has already been created.
• After August I said, “Don’t worry, we will get him next time.” Yesterday was next time. Why had I not done anything to get him next time? We are poised to do something tomorrow so there is not a next time. To protect the university community, perhaps to protect the nation, let’s do this.

TL;DR:

Tell UVA to file a No Trespass Order immediately, and to prosecute according to the record that has been established, the white supremacists who led the August 11 torch-rally attack against students and community members.