Samira Taghavi: What happens to societies when dissent is crushed?

I have a question for lawyers of my age or older: in your student days, could you have imagined your law school dean writing that an eminent legal commentator, with years of senior court experience, was an “old racist dinosaur” who should “go die quietly in the corner”?

You might, like I, remember your dean and other faculty members as having had great influence in building your talent and exemplifying skill in truly calm and deliberative debate. But about two weeks ago, Khylee Quince, the Dean of AUT Law School, posted on social media the above ‘go die’ condemnation of Gary Judd KC, after publication of Judd KC’s essay in LawNews on May 3, explaining his move to protect law students (as he sees it) from an education infused with extra-legal indoctrination. Whether you agree with Judd KC or not, no lawyer should mistake such insults for actual debate.