Law school graduates turn their backs on Adams during commencement address

[ThatRobGuy]

Law school graduates turn their backs on Adams during commencement address

Law students graduating from the City University of New York (CUNY) turned their backs on New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) in protest against him as he gave their commencement address on Friday.&…

thehill.com

Law students graduating from the City University of New York (CUNY) turned their backs on New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) in protest against him as he gave their commencement address on Friday.

Video posted on social media showed many of the graduates standing silently and facing the back of the room as Adams spoke. The mayor also received some boos and shouting.


“We have a lot of challenges, a lot of things that it needs discipline. And just as you see these graduates here, I know what it is to protest,” he said, which was followed by some yells back at him.

Adams has faced some controversy in the past week for his response to the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old mentally ill homeless man who was killed in a subway station earlier this month by Marine veteran Daniel Penny.


I think this shows some cause for concern if Law graduates of all people (I'd expect this a little more from arts majors) are having a temper tantrum over Eric Adams taking the sensible stance of "Let's wait and see what the prosecutor recommends after reviewing all the information before jumping on social media and preemptively claiming that someone is a murderer" (he was responding to social media comments by AOC and Brad Lander)

The comments that cause the "circular firing squad" to turn in on him were:
“I don’t think that’s very responsible at the time where we are still investigating the situation,” Adams said on “CNN Primetime” late Wednesday when asked about both inflammatory tweets.

“Let’s let the DA conduct his investigation with the law enforcement officials. To really interfere with that is not the right thing to do.

“I’m going to be responsible and allow them to do their job and allow them to determine exactly what happened here,” the mayor stressed.


Not exactly comforting to know that a good subset of the nation's future law professionals seem more keen on the "court of public opinion" than they are, y'know, actual court (that has certain legal standards and due process) ...so much so, that they'll apparently boo and protest the guy for saying something quite reasonable and rational.

 

[DaisyDay]

I don’t know, that seems a respectable protest. They let him speak.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

Who was at fault for the shooting?

 

[public hermit]

What are they protesting? I don't see anything wrong with their protesting, per se. That being said, I don't think he needs to be an object of protest for letting the process unfold. If they were protesting the charges, that might make more sense. Penny is charged with manslaughter so maybe they would rather it had been murder charges? I don't see how any observer can determine intent, but protest if you feel the need. Maybe they're protesting budget cuts?

 

[ThatRobGuy]

What are they protesting? I don't see anything wrong with their protesting, per se. That being said, I don't think he needs to be an object of protest for letting the process unfold. If they were protesting the charges, that might make more sense. Penny is charged with manslaughter so maybe they would rather it had been murder charges? I don't see how any observer can determine intent, but protest if you feel the need. Maybe they're protesting budget cuts?

They're protesting him for the fact that he said AOC's comments (preemptively saying that Penny was a murderer before the prosecutor had even had a chance to review the info was irresponsible.

“I don’t think that’s very responsible at the time where we are still investigating the situation,” Adams said on “CNN Primetime” late Wednesday when asked about both inflammatory tweets.

“Let’s let the DA conduct his investigation with the law enforcement officials. To really interfere with that is not the right thing to do.

“I’m going to be responsible and allow them to do their job and allow them to determine exactly what happened here,” the mayor stressed.

Even if they were protesting the fact that Penny was getting charged with Manslaughter instead of Murder, Mayor Adams wouldn't be the appropriate target of the protest. It's not the Mayor who decides what charges to file.

And even then, trying to cater charges to appeasing public outrage (rather than what they can actually prove) is irresponsible as it can backfire like it did in the Zimmerman case, where they overcharged and went for 2nd degree murder in order to appease angry activists, and he walked on a murder 2 charge when they likely could've gotten him on a lesser charge that they could've proven.

In this case, trying to charge penny with murder instead of involuntary manslaughter would be irresponsible on the part of the DA. Contrary to what some folks seem to think, there are certain legal standards for these charges, and that standard isn't "how mad a particular case makes me"

In NY's laws, 2nd degree manslaughter (which they're charging him) with is defined as:
Recklessly causing the death of another person
(seems like a good fit)

The lowest murder charge in NY requires intent to cause death; or causing the death of another person while engaging in attempts to commit robbery, burglary, kidnapping, or arson.
(going to be nearly impossible to try that case and win given the circumstances and eyewitness accounts)

 

[public hermit]

They're protesting him for the fact that he said AOC's comments (preemptively saying that Penny was a murderer before the prosecutor had even had a chance to review the info was irresponsible.

“I don’t think that’s very responsible at the time where we are still investigating the situation,” Adams said on “CNN Primetime” late Wednesday when asked about both inflammatory tweets.

“Let’s let the DA conduct his investigation with the law enforcement officials. To really interfere with that is not the right thing to do.

“I’m going to be responsible and allow them to do their job and allow them to determine exactly what happened here,” the mayor stressed.

Even if they were protesting the fact that Penny was getting charged with Manslaughter instead of Murder, Mayor Adams wouldn't be the appropriate target of the protest. It's not the Mayor who decides what charges to file.

And even then, trying to cater charges to appeasing public outrage (rather than what they can actually prove) is irresponsible as it can backfire like it did in the Zimmerman case, where they overcharged and went for 2nd degree murder in order to appease angry activists, and he walked on a murder 2 charge when they likely could've gotten him on a lesser charge that they could've proven.

In this case, trying to charge penny with murder instead of involuntary manslaughter would be irresponsible on the part of the DA. Contrary to what some folks seem to think, there are certain legal standards for these charges, and that standard isn't "how mad a particular case makes me"

I agree that protesting him doesn't make sense. You're sure they're not protesting budget cuts? The article mentions it as if it's a possibility.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

What are they protesting? I don't see anything wrong with their protesting, per se. That being said, I don't think he needs to be an object of protest for letting the process unfold. If they were protesting the charges, that might make more sense. Penny is charged with manslaughter so maybe they would rather it had been murder charges? I don't see how any observer can determine intent, but protest if you feel the need. Maybe they're protesting budget cuts?

It's possible it was in addition to that, but several other articles are specifically mentioning Adams' comments on the Neely situation as being the primary driver behind the protests

Mayor Adams Gets Boos and Protests at Law School Commencement

Law students graduating from the City University of New York (CUNY) turned their backs on New York City Mayor Eric

lavocedinewyork.com

The protesters were unhappy with Adams’ first response to the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old mentally ill homeless man who was killed in a subway station earlier this month by Marine veteran Daniel Penny.

CUNY Graduates Turn Backs on NYC Mayor in Protest | Watch

New York City Mayor Eric Adams delivered the commencement address at CUNY and was met with angry students who turned their backs on him.

eurweb.com

And in a NY Times article about it, one of the protestors made this statement:
“It’s disingenuous for himself to align his interest and his interest in police with the interests of what we’re taught at CUNY,” she said. “And also just the timing of it, with the killing of Jordan Neely and his absence of talking about it until two days ago.”

 

[durangodawood]

Everybody is in such a gosh darn hurry to decide whos the "bad guy".

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Everybody is in such a gosh darn hurry to decide whos the "bad guy".

Well, to be fair, I don't know that it's really about "figuring out who the bad guy is" as much as it is people sniping out sets of circumstances that think neatly fit into a prevailing narrative.

For instance, there were 8 homicides that took place on the NYC subway in 2022...I can't remember any of them being "mainstream news" to the degree this story is.

 

[wing2000]

Law students graduating from the City University of New York (CUNY) turned their backs on New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) in protest against him as he gave their commencement address on Friday.

Their actions are simply rude.

The comments that cause the "circular firing squad" to turn in on him were:
“I don’t think that’s very responsible at the time where we are still investigating the situation,” Adams said on “CNN Primetime” late Wednesday when asked about both inflammatory tweets.

“Let’s let the DA conduct his investigation with the law enforcement officials. To really interfere with that is not the right thing to do.

“I’m going to be responsible and allow them to do their job and allow them to determine exactly what happened here,” the mayor stressed.

Law students of all people should respect the investigation...

 

[durangodawood]

Well, to be fair, I don't know that it's really about "figuring out who the bad guy is" as much as it is people sniping out sets of circumstances that think neatly fit into a prevailing narrative.

For instance, there were 8 homicides that took place on the NYC subway in 2022...I can't remember any of them being "mainstream news" to the degree this story is.

Im ok with man-on-the-street (do we go out on the street anymore?) opinions based on charges filed.

Elected officials otoh ought to really do exactly what Adams is doing and hold off on public opinions until better evidence is available - or we get a guilty plea/verdict. And protestors are jerks for expecting otherwise from him.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Law students of all people should respect the investigation...

And that was my point...I'd expect advanced degree graduates in other fields of study to maybe be a little murky on the differences between what legally constitutes manslaughter vs. murder (and the stipulations involved with the degrees of each charge)

However, this is a group of students who were supposedly supposed to studying this topic for the past 6-8 years. They should know that the difference between manslaughter and murder isn't just a difference in the level of how egregious the public finds a particular set of circumstances to be.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

Law school graduates turn their backs on Adams during commencement address

Law students graduating from the City University of New York (CUNY) turned their backs on New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) in protest against him as he gave their commencement address on Friday.&…

thehill.com

Law students graduating from the City University of New York (CUNY) turned their backs on New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) in protest against him as he gave their commencement address on Friday.

Video posted on social media showed many of the graduates standing silently and facing the back of the room as Adams spoke. The mayor also received some boos and shouting.


“We have a lot of challenges, a lot of things that it needs discipline. And just as you see these graduates here, I know what it is to protest,” he said, which was followed by some yells back at him.

Adams has faced some controversy in the past week for his response to the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old mentally ill homeless man who was killed in a subway station earlier this month by Marine veteran Daniel Penny.


I think this shows some cause for concern if Law graduates of all people (I'd expect this a little more from arts majors) are having a temper tantrum over Eric Adams taking the sensible stance of "Let's wait and see what the prosecutor recommends after reviewing all the information before jumping on social media and preemptively claiming that someone is a murderer" (he was responding to social media comments by AOC and Brad Lander)

The comments that cause the "circular firing squad" to turn in on him were:
“I don’t think that’s very responsible at the time where we are still investigating the situation,” Adams said on “CNN Primetime” late Wednesday when asked about both inflammatory tweets.

“Let’s let the DA conduct his investigation with the law enforcement officials. To really interfere with that is not the right thing to do.

“I’m going to be responsible and allow them to do their job and allow them to determine exactly what happened here,” the mayor stressed.


Not exactly comforting to know that a good subset of the nation's future law professionals seem more keen on the "court of public opinion" than they are, y'know, actual court (that has certain legal standards and due process) ...so much so, that they'll apparently boo and protest the guy for saying something quite reasonable and rational.

Totally agreed. LAW students need to be able to evaluate arguments with a cool head and respond in the same manner. You don't get to throw petulant displays like this. Try that on a judge some time and see what happens.