SPECIAL REPORT: Embattled Stanford Law dean has long history of fighting to 'dismantle' the justice system
Documents obtained by Campus Reform reveal a career of fighting to 'dismantle' and disrupt the legal system, disdain for law enforcement, and of pushing progressive policies that endanger the Bay Area community.
Steinbach, who is now currently on leave from Stanford University, finished her tenure at EBCLC as its executive before moving to the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California in 2019.
Stanford Law Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Tirien Steinbach recently made headlines after she and other administrators assisted activist students in the disruption of a speech from conservative US Judge Kyle Duncan, who was there as a guest of the school’s chapter of the Federalist Society.
Steinbach’s recent hijacking of Judge Kyle Duncan’s speech at Stanford Law is just the latest episode in the self-described “social justice lawyer’s” fight against “white supremacy and patriarchy” within the American legal system.
Prior to deciding to withhold discipline from the students that sabotaged Duncan’s speech and apologizing to Duncan directly, the Stanford administration asked the Federalist Society chapter not to post about the disruption on social media.
[RELATED: Stanford puts DEI dean on leave, makes students take ‘mandatory educational programming’]
Documents obtained by Campus Reform reveal a career of fighting to “dismantle” and disrupt the legal system, disdain for law enforcement, and of pushing progressive policies that endanger the Bay Area community. Much of this was done through a law clinic associated with the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.
Before her time as DEI Dean at Stanford Law, Steinbach served 11 years as Executive Director of East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), the “community-based clinical program for Berkeley Law School and largest provider of free legal services and policy advocacy in Alameda County,” according to the university.
Documents obtained by Campus Reform show that EBCLC’s progressive agenda includes “dismantl[ing]” the criminal justice system and helping deregister California sex offenders. The firm’s progressive activism extended to helping illegal immigrant students secure DACA status and Medicaid benefits.
Steinbach herself stated in a 2018 law review that she brings “a racial and economic justice frame” to her legal work, the same year EBCLC publicly advocated for its Clean Slate Practice for sex offenders and one year after California deregistered those individuals who had had “oral copulation with a minor under 14 years old and non-forced sodomy with a minor under 14 years old.”
In a December 2014 statement listing Steinbach as the media contact, EBCLC condemned police as a “state-sanctioned force” committing violence against protesters involved in vandalism and property destruction.
The statement, which was in response to the Oakland Riots, failed to mention widely reported incidents of protesters committing violence against police, and instead mentioned “property damage,” which it downplayed.
Violence during the riots, which encompassed Berkeley and Oakland, included physical attacks on police officers and civilians with blunt instruments.
She carried that activism to the University of California, Berkeley, where she held “trainings on increasing mindfulness and cultural responsiveness in the law and legal profession” and “launched the Coalition for Equity and Inclusion in Law.”
Campus Reform received the following statement from Berkeley after inquiry about Steinbach’s online biography, which was live on the university website as of Wednesday:
Tirien is not a lecturer at Berkeley Law. She was when she was Executive Director of the East Bay Community Law Center. That ended a few years ago and that bio page should be taken down.
Steinbach, who is now currently on leave from Stanford University, finished her tenure at EBCLC as its executive before moving to the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California in 2019.
Stanford pays Steinbach between $100,000 - $200,000 per year, Washington Free Beacon reports.
Steinbach’s current biography is listed on the website of Stanford Law School’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The Office’s website highlights Critical Race Theory courses offered at the school as well as the stated objective to help law students “engage in a pluralistic society.”
“We will prepare our students to engage with and navigate differences successfully and respectfully as lawyers,” the statement reads.
Campus Reform reached out to the University of California, Berkeley. Stanford University has not responded to Campus Reform’s requests for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
