- Ilya Shapiro, an incoming Georgetown Law professor, was put on administrative leave.
- But students staged a sit-in on Tuesday, calling for more aggressive action, National Review reported.
- Shapiro faced backlash for saying Biden will pick a "lesser Black woman" for the Supreme Court.
Georgetown Law students occupied an auditorium on Tuesday to demand the firing of an academic who said President Joe Biden would nominate a "lesser Black woman" to fill Justice Stephen Breyer's Supreme Court seat, National Review reported.
Ilya Shapiro, who was set to start as a professor at Georgetown Law on February 1, was placed on administrative leave earlier this week pending an investigation after his comments prompted widespread condemnation, including from the law school's dean, William Treanor.
But students were unsatisfied with this decision, calling for Shapiro's "immediate termination" in a Monday message chain tweeted by National Reviews' Nate Hochman.
Students, who were asked to wear all black in solidarity, staged the sit-in in an auditorium at the law center, where Treanor spent more than an hour answering questions, National Review reported.
Many of the students appeared to be on the Georgetown Black Law Students Association (BLSA) leadership team, which had previously already called for Shapiro's termination, National Review reported.
"The school needs to make a statement between what is acceptable conservatism and what is racism so the people who want to be here can be here, and the people who don't, don't," one student said in a video of the stage-in that BLSA tweeted.
—Georgetown BLSA (@GeorgetownBLSA) February 2, 2022
In two now-deleted tweets, Shapiro had suggested that Biden's commitment to naming a Black woman to the Supreme Court would result in his ignoring other candidates.
Shapiro suggested Biden consider Judge Sri Srinivasan, chief judge of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, and said: "But alas doesn't fit into latest intersectionality hierarchy so we'll get lesser black woman. Thank heaven for small favors?" Shapiro has since issued an apology for the tweets, calling his comments "inartful."
According to National Review, Treanor told the students he was "appalled" by Shapiro's comments and said the faculty would "do better," but refrained from commenting further on whether Shapiro will face further action.
"Since we're a private institution, the First Amendment doesn't apply to us," Treanor said, per National Review. "On the other hand, the university does have a free speech and expression policy which binds us."
Treanor previously said Shapiro would remain on leave until the completion of an investigation into whether his posts violated university policy.
Shapiro declined to comment.
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