At a mandatory Columbia Law training, an anti-Trump diversity consultant cautioned that phrases like “crazy uncle” and “grandfathering” could be offensive, and criticized President Trump for praising Liberia’s president on his spoken English, calling it a “microaggression.”
The session, obtained by the Washington Free Beacon, followed Columbia’s agreement with the Trump administration to require anti-Semitism training, though officials claimed this event was not meant to fulfill that mandate. Led by Marguerite Fletcher, a former WilmerHale attorney, the training centered on a case study of a student frustrated by scheduling around Jewish holidays.
Fletcher, who once wished clients a “HappyChrismaHanuKwanzakah,” labeled the complaint a textbook “microaggression” and urged students to share similar examples. When one cited complimenting a foreigner’s English, she pivoted to attack Trump for praising Liberian president Joseph Boakai’s English in July.
“I know I shouldn’t go political, but our president did that recently to an African president, [the] president of Liberia,” Fletcher said. “‘You speak English better than the people in my office.’ Hmmm… yes, he does.”
During the training, Fletcher urged lawyers to avoid using “grandfathering,” citing its Jim Crow origins, and recounted being criticized at a Massachusetts “lawyer well-being group” for saying “crazy uncle,” which she was told stigmatizes mental illness. The Columbia session did not address the kinds of remarks that left Jewish students feeling unsafe during anti-Israel protests, which led the Trump administration to freeze over $400 million in university grants and contracts in March.
A Columbia Law spokesman said the training was designed to meet American Bar Association standards, which require instruction on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism for new law students. As the Trump administration pressures elite universities—Harvard is reportedly weighing a $500 million settlement to restore funding—the session shows how schools seeking compromise still advance DEI programs that Trump opposes. Columbia agreed to uphold merit-based admissions, avoid unlawful DEI initiatives, and encourage open debate; yet Fletcher told students that “inappropriate language does cause harm” and insisted that a true meritocracy is impossible without diversity, equity, and inclusion.
