Elizabeth Lederer, one of the prosecutors in the conviction of the Central Park Five, has resigned as a professor at the Columbia Law School.
The move comes on the heels of a student protest from the Black Law Students Association at Columbia, which released a statement to the school calling for Lederer to be fired for her “harmful, racist tactics.” Lederer, a Manhattan district attorney, was a central prosecutor in the 1989 Central Park Five case that saw five boys wrongfully jailed for the rape of a park jogger. The group also called on the school to re-evaluate its curriculum to “prevent perpetuating racist policies.”
Lederer isn’t the only prosecutor from the controversial case to face massive backlash. Following the release of Ava DuVernay’s dramatization of the events in the miniseries “When They See Us,” Linda Fairstein, the other lead prosecutor on the case, has been dropped by her book publisher and has resigned from both the board of her alma mater Vassar College and the board of Safe Horizon, a nonprofit victim assistance organization.
Since it debuted on May 31, “When They See Us” has been a smash hit for Netflix, becoming the streaming service’s most-watched show in the U.S. every day since its premiere.