From the N.Y. Times (Stephanie Saul) last week:
Less than a week after naming a new dean, the University of Arkansas Law School has rescinded the offer after state politicians raised concerns about her views on transgender athletes….
The appointee, Emily Suski, a legal scholar at the University of South Carolina, had been selected after a lengthy search, and the University of Arkansas's provost, Indrajeet Chaubey, had praised her work on medical partnerships to help low-income children when the choice was announced on Jan. 9. But on Wednesday, the school withdrew the appointment, saying that the decision was based on "feedback from key external stakeholders."
Members of the state legislature said the concerns were related to her signature on an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court last year in support of transgender student athletes….
This led to considerable condemnation; the Association of American Law Schools, for instance, called it "a blatant violation of academic freedom, an alarming intrusion into university governance, and a threat to the legal profession in so far as political actors sought to penalize a lawyer for taking a legal position." My view, though, is somewhat different, for reasons that I think help illuminate some broader matters as well.
