The normal welcome back message is one of optimism and hope. Indeed, I am confident that this next year at Nebraska Law is going to be a tremendous year of growth and learning for the members of this community. After all, we start today with a truly unique experience – joining together to watch a total solar eclipse. My hope is that this event might make each of us pause – for at least one minute and twenty-four seconds – to contemplate our role in the larger scheme of the universe. Beginnings are also a good time to take a deeper look internally at our own goals, ethics, and plans for the future. This reflection is essential to being a professional, and I encourage you to give that process longer than the time scheduled for the totality of the eclipse.
I must say, however, that events in Charlottesville and the resulting chaos have undermined my sense of optimism and hope that normally accompanies a new year. Seeing the disgusting racism, anti-Semitism, and violence from last week sickened me, as I had naïvely hoped these viewpoints had been banished to the dark recesses of our society.
So, as I write this, I am trying to regain a sense of equilibrium from last week after moving from the lows of the Virginia violence to the highs of welcoming a bright new class of 1L law students. Putting those opposing emotions together strengthens my resolve to work towards the future knowing that the College of Law is producing wonderful new attorneys and, importantly, that our society has never needed lawyers more than it does right now. Lawyers will be on the front line combatting racism and bigotry in all of its forms, and I am confident that our graduates will participate in that effort through litigation, activism, business, community building, political leadership, and more. I also know that our College will continue its efforts to teach cultural competency and seeing other people’s perspectives so that we can move beyond the broken tribal mentality demonstrated so acutely last week. I wholeheartedly agree with Thomas Friedman, who wrote last Thursday in the New York Times that “Pluralism is our true source of strength at home and abroad. It has to be nurtured, celebrated and protected from its enemies everywhere and always.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/opinion/charlottesville-isis-us-syria.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share)
As students of the law, we are certainly aware that the First Amendment protects a broad range of speech, even ugly and vile speech. We should also remember that the Constitution similarly protects our right to condemn that speech and the violence it often brings. And we should condemn it at every opportunity. I am proud of, and wholly endorse, the statements made by our University’s President and Chancellor speaking out against the hate and bigotry spewed by the KKK and the Nazi organizers of the Charlottesville protests. (http://news.unl.edu/topic-tags/unite-the-right-rally-in-charlottesville-virginia/)
Please know that I am personally committed to cultivating and maintaining an environment at this College of Law in which opposing viewpoints can be discussed and debated rationally and peacefully. I am also committed to ensuring that racism and bigotry are denounced and that we create a culture where diversity and inclusion are the norm. Those are not countervailing values; in fact they support and reinforce each other. I hope you join me in this effort.