Slate columnist Mark Joseph Stern said the incident reinforced the Federalist Society`s victim mentality and provided “grist to the grievance industry complex that drives the right-wing conservative movement.” While Stern thinks the trap house and references to Popeye`s chicken are “at least tense” and that “the email is young and unprofessional,” he also believes the law school`s response was misguided. Within minutes, the light invitation was captured and shared on an online forum for all second-year law students, some of whom claimed the term “trap house” suggested a blackface party. Here`s the email in all its glory for you to judge for yourself: Colbert ultimately refused to send the directors` ready-made apologies. Instead, he posted on the forum for second-year law students, clarifying that the theme of the event was Constitution Day, not “traphouse,” and offered to speak individually to anyone who had been “hurt by everything I said.” This contribution did not satisfy his critics. Saja Spearman-Weaver LAW `23, a board member of the Black Law Students Association, told Messages that she contacted Colbert individually via SMS, email and GroupMe and only received a response last Friday — more than three weeks later. But Colbert said he responded to Spearman-Weaver after she followed his first message. Read the “Fallhaus” email carefully – starting with the term “case house”, which appears to be the grave of the alleged crime. Taking that term for itself, most people these days would associate it with the popular podcast Chapo Trap House — a show hosted by three white men whose names, at least as far as I know, haven`t been the subject of an uproar. Free speech is once again under threat at Yale University, where law school administrators met with a student several times to pressure him to apologize for language he used in an email insulting some of his classmates. The incident shows how university officials can try to intimidate students into silence and compliance through obscure procedures and veiled threats of punishment.
A month after a student sent an email that some considered race-insensitive, a broad discussion about racism, conservatism and free speech began at Yale Law School. The sender never apologized – good for him, because he had nothing to apologize about. Instead, he offered to speak individually to anyone offended by his email — to say things like the smart adults Yale law students are probably being. Unfortunately, no one accepted it on this offer. Eldik noted that several students had filed complaints of discrimination and harassment via email and told Colbert that the word “trap” can be a “trigger” because of its historical association with drug use in poor black communities and the history of white students poking fun at black culture. According to Eldik, the involvement of a traditional conservative organization has only exacerbated the problem: “The email`s association with FedSoc has been very triggering for students who already feel FedSoc belongs to political affiliations that oppress certain communities.” “In one paradigm, you would think of the word `trap` through the lens of a crack cave or crack house,” Eldik said at the recorded meeting. “The email`s association with FedSoc has been very challenging for students who already feel FedSoc belongs to political affiliations that oppress certain communities,” Eldik said. “That includes, of course, the LGBTQIA community and the black communities and immigrant communities.” Edwards added that she also found Colbert`s email offensive because the event was organized by the Federalist Society, which she said is “historically known for supporting anti-black and anti-women rhetoric.” The Federalist Society is a national organization of conservatives and libertarians committed to preserving freedom, according to the group`s website. Once there, Ellen Cosgrove, associate dean, and Yaseen Eldik, director of diversity, insisted to the student (whom Free Beacon did not name) and told him that the use of the word “trap” and the mention of fried chicken was “triggering” for other students, in addition to “connecting email to FedSoc.” Eldik told the student that “FedSoc belongs to political affiliations that oppress certain communities,” specifically mentioning the “LGBTQIA community and black communities and immigrant communities.” Both administrators suggested that if the student did not apologize, this incident could negatively affect his chances of passing the bar exam, allowing administrators to interfere with character issues, with Eldik even going so far as to write an apology for the student. (The student ultimately refused, instead writing on an online forum that he welcomed questions from those who complained or were offended.) “For me, a trap house is a party house,” he said. “The atmosphere was that high school students were drinking in their mother`s basement or in a Frat house, but without the Frat.” “Yale University and Yale Law School have strong free speech protections, and no student will be screened or disciplined for protected expression,” law school spokeswoman Debra Kroszner wrote in an email to the news. “When the law school receives complaints of offensive communication, the Dean of Studies regularly tries to help students talk to each other and resolve their disagreements within the community.” After hearing nothing over the next few days, Colbert emailed Eldik and Cosgrove on September 22 for updates.
Cosgrove replied that they “would not write anything until the case was resolved and the case was solved.” Cosgrove added that BLSA officials asked him and Eldik to arrange a meeting with him, but Colbert reminded Cosgrove that he had already refused to attend a meeting arbitrated by Eldik and Cosgrove instead of meeting one-on-one with the students. If you put the end in the context of a party invitation like this email, most readers would think of. Beer. As Free Beacon`s Aaron Sibarium explains, “Once associated with downtown crack caves, the term `trap house` has also become generic slang for any place where young people can drink beer.” A trap house is a term used to describe a place in a rough part of town where illegal drugs are sold. “I think there`s an atmosphere at Yale Law School where, for one reason or another, people are constantly threatened by denunciation by more progressive student activists,” Colbert wrote in an email to the News. I think the culture of public shame and demanding apologies is unhealthy and encourages people`s worst tendencies.