The Stanford University diversity dean who led scores of students in a protest against a Trump-appointed judge while he was speaking at Stanford Law School is currently on leave, according to reports.
Tirien Steinbach, the school’s associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, interrupted US Circuit Judge S. Kyle Duncan earlier this month and blasted him for causing “harm” to students while he attempted to speak to Stanford’s chapter of the conservative Federalist Society.
Steinbach has since been placed on leave, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Free Beacon. It’s not clear if she was placed on disciplinary leave or went on voluntary leave.
The Post has reached out to Stanford for confirmation.
The law school will not discipline any of the students who were involved in the disruption, the memo said.
Steinbach, a former program officer at the American Civil Liberties Union, said Duncan’s bench opinions “land as absolute disenfranchisement of [the Stanford community’s] rights”
She also spoke at length about her commitment to free speech — while never offering Judge Duncan an opportunity to speak.
Duncan said afterward it appeared like a “setup” and that he believed Steinbach had conspired with the students.
Two days after the incident, Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Law School Dean Jenny Martinez offered their “sincerest apologies” to Duncan.
They admitted the hijacking “was inconsistent with our policies on free speech, and we are very sorry about the experience you had while visiting our campus,” the pair wrote.
“We are very clear with our students that, given our commitment to free expression, if there are speakers they disagree with, they are welcome to exercise their right to protest but not to disrupt the proceedings.”
Though the letter did not name Steinbach, it addressed “staff members who should have enforced university policies failed to do so, and instead intervened in inappropriate ways that are not aligned with the university’s commitment to free speech.”
The apology letter sparked additional protests from student organizations.
When Martinez returned to teaching after the incident, hundreds of black-clad, masked students ambushed her class and vandalized her classroom with signs, photos obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show.
“Counter-speech is free speech,” was printed on many of the fliers and on most of the students’ masks, the outlet said.
Hundreds more then formed a human corridor from Martinez’s classroom to the building’s exit.
