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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

More than 50 law school faculty blast attorney general’s record

Law+school+students+transcripts+will+include+notation+stating+that+administrators%2C+not+students%2C+made+the+decision+to+move+all+classes+to+a+Credit%2FNo+Credit+scale+based+on+a+public+health+emergency.
File Photo by Donna Armstrong | Senior Staff Photographer
Law school students’ transcripts will include notation stating that administrators, not students, made the decision to move all classes to a Credit/No Credit scale based on a “public health emergency.”

More than 50 GW Law faculty signed a letter condemning a “series of acts and omissions” by Attorney General and 1977 alumnus William Barr.

Earlier this month, law school faculty began an internal push to rescind Barr’s honorary degree. The letter, released Tuesday, did not make the same request but stated that Barr “has failed to fulfill his oath of office” and does not abide by the basic values of the law school.

“We feel a special obligation to speak out because of the long relationship Attorney General Barr has with our law school and our University,” the letter states. “Our law school stands for the core values of the rule of law, the fair and equal application of the law to all persons and the protection of constitutional rights.”

The letter’s signatories include Christopher Bracey, the school’s interim dean and GW’s vice provost of faculty affairs; Mary Cheh, a law professor and D.C. councilmember; and multiple associate deans and former deans.

Faculty claim Barr’s actions have “undermined the rule of law” and “breached constitutional norms,” citing his involvement in Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation, the sentencing of former student and Trump ally Roger Stone, the Michael Flynn case and the clearing of demonstrators at Lafayette Square earlier this month during a protest against police brutality.

“His actions have posed, and continue to create, a clear and present danger to the even-handed administration of justice, to civil liberties and to the constitutional order,” faculty wrote.

The U.S. Department of Justice did not return a request for comment.

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