The Revolution Devours Another of Its Children

Stephanie Guttman is enjoying a good gloat as one student revolutionary’s chickens come home to cancel her winner-of-the-DEI-lottery-ticket lucrative right-out-of-law-school job offer.

NYU student bar association president Ryna Workman was set to become a very rich young lady. Ooops, I mean they (this person is non-binary and insists on they/them) was about to become a very rich young person after graduation when she ascended to Winston & Strawn, an international law monolith, where, as a brand new associate, she could rake in at least $200K and perhaps up to $300K a year.

Then on October 10th she/they/them seemed to have become oddly compelled to send out an email telling fellow law students (as if anyone had asked her) she would not condemn what she called Palestinian “resistance” on October 7th since it was all— baby decapitating and so on—a perfectly valid response to Israel’s “regime of state-sanctioned violence” which had “created the conditions that made resistance necessary.”

The emailed letter was leaked and went viral.

Oooops. Sure, a student bar association president who is a three-fer (black, female, and aggressively queer) is one hot prospect for any law firm, especially one that announces its dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion on its website landing page.

But even a woke international behemoth like W&S must have felt a little queasy as the partners considered how a now-famous behead-‘em-while-you-rape-‘em defender could affect client relations in Brussels, São Paolo, London, Paris, and Shanghai.

The behemoth swiftly withdrew its job offer. …

Old commie Amy Goodman, now a podcaster for Democracy Now, for one, found a new opportunity for righteous indignation. She had Workman on her show and introduced her by saying she was an example of students across the country “facing racist attacks and retaliation that threaten their safety and livelihoods” for just speaking their minds a lil’ bit.

Yup. Losing a $300K job because a law firm decides you may not be good for the brand is definitely livelihood-threatening racist retaliation.

I’m pretty sure a woman like Workman will always find a way to pay the rent—including in Brooklyn where she now appears to live. Even given the recent corporate trend to pull away from DEI mandates, I’m betting there are still thousands of businesses and law firms who would salivate over a physically attractive, apparently confident, glibbly articulate three-fer.

I had kind of hoped we would have the satisfaction of seeing Workman graciously accepting an offer to run a store-front NGO at a salary of $40K year. No such luck. Her internet presence has been pretty well scrubbed. The full text of the infamous October 10 message is gone, there’s no LinkedIn, no Twitter.

Update: We just found Ryna Workman. She’s running a GoFundMe …for herself. As of today it reads:

Any donated money will be used to financially support me in the wake of this targeted harassment campaign. I will use the money to seek out quality therapy and counselling services and purchase meals and groceries. Your help will provide me with a safety net as I look for other employment opportunities. I also plan on using some of the funds to support other students who have suffered financially after expressing solidarity with Palestine. Any amount you’re willing to contribute will be greatly appreciated. If you cannot donate, please share this with friends or family – that would mean the world to me.

RTWT