Reposted by Brian Soucek
Reviewing The Opinionated University for Academe, Robert Post praises the nuanced discussion of the myth of “institutional neutrality” by author @brsoucek.bsky.social, who’s “deeply knowledgeable about fundamental principles of academic freedom.”
aaup.org
Clarifying How Universities Should Deal with Controversy
Robert Post reviews The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education by Brian Soucek.
![2 WEST VIRGINIA v. B. P. J.
THOMAS, J., concurring
judgment). Because “gender dysphoria” is a mutable men-
tal state that is the object of psychiatric treatment, it does
not resemble the immutable characteristics on the basis of
which our precedents have applied heightened scrutiny—
race, sex, or national origin. Instead, gender dysphoria re-
sembles other characteristics on the basis of which legisla-
tures may classify with a merely rational basis. See, e.g.,
Heller v. Doe, 509 U. S. 312, 321 (1993) (mental illness);
Plyler v. Doe, 457 U. S. 202, 220 (1982) (immigration sta-
tus). Legislatures have many obvious rational bases to
keep men who believe that they are women out of teams
and private spaces reserved for women.
Second, as the Court recognizes, this case concerns “bio-
logical men” and “boys who identify as girls.” Ante, at 10,
27. Men and boys with gender dysphoria are not women or
girls, even if they believe that they are. Sex is an immuta-
ble “biological” characteristic, see ante, at 10; it is binary;
and “man” and “woman,” “boy” and “girl,” are the terms that
correspond to adults and children of each sex. See A. Byrne,
Are Women Adult Human Females? 177 Philosophical
Studies 3783, 3786–3787 (2020). To use language to ob-
scure reality—to show “indifference regarding the truth”—
is to lie to the public and cease to treat our fellow citizens
“as equal[s].” J. Pieper, Abuse of Language—Abuse of
Power 17, 21 (1992).](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bpna2qi2e44fafbhhtqjak3x/bafkreibwsxtosqddkiskx5oxonnai4ha7ygixfcqmnbsxb27z3q43jh4iu)
![MILITARY RECRUITMENT AT UC DAVIS SCHOOL OF LAW
In accord with the University of California’s anti-discrimination policy and regulations
of the Associate of American Law Schools (AALS), the University of California, Davis
School of Law has a Non-Discrimination Policy & Statement of Equal Opportunity
providing that:
The UC Davis School of Law Career Services Office expects employers recruiting at
King Hall to share our belief that the diversity of our students' backgrounds,
experience and interests will enrich the legal profession.
UC Davis School of Law does not make its career services facilities or services
available to employers who discriminate in the selection of employees on the basis
of ... sex, gender, gender expression, [or] gender identity.
On January 27, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order directing the
Departments of Defense and of Homeland Security to revise their accession and
retention standards to presumptively ban service by people who are transgender,
finding that transgender status is “not consistent with the humility and selflessness
required of a service member” and with “a soldier’s commitment to an honorable,
truthful, and disciplined lifestyle.” A federal law, the Solomon Amendment, 10 U.S.C.
§ 983, denies most federal funding to a university that provides less access to military
recruiters than to other employers. For that reason, longstanding practice at King Hall,
as at other law schools, has been to grant access to miliary recruiters even when they fail
to comply with our policies.
As the U.S. Supreme Court wrote when it upheld the constitutionality of the Solomon
Amendment, “Nothing about recruiting suggests that law schools agree with any speech
by recruiters, and nothing in the Solomon Amendment restricts what the law schools
may say about the military’s policies.” Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and
Institutional Rights, Inc., 547 U.S. 47, 65 (2006). To make our position clear, we will
prominently post our non-discrimination…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bviiczzhquhhqp6btmaw3z3r/bafkreieuvqbotdrob34z3fkj74ygjqg62fe64rbip24lzemyow5os5fq44)
