The National Lawyers Guild chapters of the undersigned law schools in the United States stand in solidarity with and affirm the statements of Harvard’s National Lawyers Guild (NLG) in response to the Department of Education’s letter instructing Harvard University to end its NLG chapter’s support and recognition of pro-Palestine organizations.
NLG chapters in law schools are integral to the project of advancing legal thought and pushing the law to more closely align with what is just. Law student Guild chapters actively support a broad range of activities on campus aimed at the protection and advancement of human and civil rights. This includes Legal Observer trainings which train individuals to monitor, observe, and document government conduct against First Amendment-protected activity at protests aligned with the NLG’s progressive ideals, and Know Your Risks/Rights trainings which educate individuals on their rights and risks associated with choices in a variety of contexts.
NLG’s support of Palestinian liberation, for which the Harvard chapter is being targeted, has been the organization’s stance long before October 7th, 2023. Actions by student members of NLG chapters in opposition to Israel’s apartheid regime and ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people aligns with the Guild’s historic roles in prosecuting Nazis at Nuremburg, offering legal support during the Civil Rights movement, opposition to the Vietnam War, Gulf War, and Apartheid South Africa, and opposition to the blockades and embargoes on Cuba.
It is unsurprising to see this administration targeting the NLG as the Guild has been a progressive bastion in the otherwise inherently conservative legal system. The National Lawyers Guild constitution recognizes:
- the importance of safeguarding and extending the rights of workers, women, farmers, and minority groups upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends; who seek actively to eliminate racism; who work to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them; and who look upon the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.
The actions taken by this administration are in direct opposition to these values and instead reflect a larger trend of weaponizing and/or disregarding the law to effectuate a retrenchment of human rights in the United States as demonstrated by the silencing of student groups and abductions of activists and immigrants.
As the Harvard Chapter points out in their statement, the demands made by the Department of Education echo the same actions taken against the Guild during McCarthyism and the Red Scare. The NLG chapters of the undersigned law schools see the urgency of speaking up rather than being silent in this moment and commit to Harvard’s call “to conduct membership drives, schedule regular meetings, subvert our institutions, hold our ground, and strengthen the social fabric.”
Signed,
Northeastern University School of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
New England Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
New York University School of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
University of Toledo College of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
William S. Boyd School of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
Boston College Law School National Lawyers Guild Chapter
Boston University School of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
Temple University Beasley School of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
University of North Carolina School of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
University of Massachusetts School of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
Loyola University New Orleans College of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
Suffolk University Law School National Lawyers Guild Chapter
University of Georgia School of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
American University Washington College of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
Columbia Law School National Lawyers Guild Chapter
Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
University of California Davis School of Law National Lawyers Guild Chapter
