University of Wisconsin-Madison law student Mary Berg was shocked and upset when she learned attorneys from conservative law firm the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), Skylar Croy and Daniel Lennington, would be teaching a Constitutional Amendments course next spring.
The course — “Selected Problems in Constitutional Law: Constitutional Litigation" — focuses on the Reconstruction Amendments: the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments of the United States Constitution. Students will draw expertise from landmark cases such as Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954), according to a draft syllabus obtained by The Daily Cardinal.
Berg says the hiring of Croy by the law school is “astounding” because Croy “intentionally puts students in harm’s way,” according to her statement sent to UW Law School deans obtained by the Cardinal.
Berg participated in the Wisconsin State Bar’s Diversity Clerkship Program, a summer employment program for law students. WILL sued the State Bar in December 2023, claiming the program was unconstitutional for discriminating against students on the basis of race and other “immutable characteristics” in their diversity definition.
Croy told WPR in a statement defeating “unconstitutional DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs” has become the WILL’s area of expertise. The firm specializes in culture war topics and is also suing the federal government over the McNair Scholarship for underrepresented students.
During the lawsuit, partially redacted documents including student’s personal statements, resumes and contact information — including Berg’s — were made available on WILL’s website.
“That kind of freaked me out more than anything. Given the atmosphere surrounding these conversations…I think it’s pretty easy for you and I to conceptualize the kind of harassment,” Berg said. “Some people want to enroll in this course and really use this as a test of their ideological strength. I am not one of those people.”
The litigation of the constitutionality of programs like the Diversity Clerkship Program has increased since the U.S. Supreme Court rejected affirmative action in June 2023.
The State Bar and WILL settled in April 2024, with the program continuing with a modified version of the definition of diversity which includes more language of the diversity of experiences and viewpoints.
Croy and Lennigton have criticized the law school directly, demanding it remove content from the school’s “Re-Orientation” program, a mandatory program for all first-year law students. WILL argued that the school was “pushing racist ideology on law students.”
Despite their criticism of the law school, Croy says he has a lot of respect for the law school and the course will be neutral in viewpoints.
Students can expect a “run-of-the-mill” course, learning about procedural matters when arguing in cases involving the Reconstruction Amendments that outlawed slavery, granted citizenship to those born or naturalized in the United States and prohibited federal and state governments from denying citizen’s right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” respectively.
“I think it would be very good for students to try to get in a class like this with instructors that they have some concerns about, because if your goal in life is to someday go to court and argue against organizations like WILL, what better way to prep for that?” Croy said.
Berg said she does not have a problem with the course itself or that attorneys from a conservative law firm will teach but rather the fact that it’s being taught by Croy and Lennington, who specifically published Berg’s and others’ personal records, obtained through a public records request.
UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas told the Cardinal Croy and Lennington were fully qualified to teach the course.
“We are committed to fostering a diversity of viewpoints, and having these instructors teach this course furthers that goal,” Lucas said.
Other law students like Samantha Crane plan to take the course next semester and look forward to learning more about constitutional law. “Why are UW Law students upset about a reconstruction amendments course being taught this spring?,” Crane said in a Tweet.
“If people are upset about it, I would say that I think people should take the class,” Crane said.
Croy and Lennington have previously crossed paths with UW Law School. Croy graduated in 2019 second in his class from UW Law School, Order of the Coif, and served as the editor-in-chief of the Wisconsin Law Review. This will be both Croy and Lennington’s first time teaching at UW Law School.
Editor's Note: This story was last updated at 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 8, 2024.
