A law firm’s job offer to a New York University law student was rescinded on Tuesday for what the firm described as “inflammatory comments” about Hamas’s attack that killed at least 1,200 Israelis.

And at Harvard, student groups began to take back their signatures on a letter that blamed Israel for the violence.

The actions were part of a wave of fallout on campuses for students, who are deeply polarized over the fighting.

At N.Y.U., Ryna Workman, the president of the university’s Student Bar Association, wrote in a message to the group on Tuesday that “Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life.”

“This regime of state-sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary,” Mx. Workman wrote in the Student Bar Association bulletin. “I will not condemn Palestinian resistance.”

The backlash was swift.

By evening, the law firm, Winston & Strawn, said the comments “profoundly conflict” with its values and without naming the student, said it rescinded its offer of employment.

The same day, the dean of the law school, Troy A. McKenzie, repudiated the student’s remarks. “This message was not from N.Y.U. School of Law as an institution and does not speak for the leadership of the law school,” Mr. McKenzie wrote.

  • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    When you are job hunting, you NEVER want you name associated with politics. Doing so will always lead you to be passed over.

    • snooggums@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      Which stifles speech about actual issues because it might hurt your job prospects.

      It is terrible that only the wealthy get to speak their minds because they can afford to.

    • QuinceDaPence@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      Especially when the job you’re loking for is at a law firm…in NYC…and the political comments are essentially saying “the Jews are responsible for the bad thing that happened to the Jews”

      That’s not exactly going to be great for your career.

        • QuinceDaPence@kbin.social
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          9 months ago

          Also, them being a lawyer, knowing what not to say to avoid pissing off the wrong people is pretty important. Even if it’s something they truly believe, if it’s something that could piss off a jury or judge they might just be living in their soapbox after they’re out of a job.

          I know we’d expect better from a judge but, again, look at reality, and then juries might not like you because your tie doesn’t match your shirt.