This is Not a Miley Cyrus Concert, This is Civil Procedure
Dear 1Ls,
I understand this is an exciting time in all of your lives. You're here! At Law School! Fantastic!
But, if I have to dodge a bum rush while coming out of Evidence because, as one of you exclaimed at me as you pushed past, "The seating chart was erased!" I am probably going to have an aneurysm. I understand that this is my fault. I simply don't get how sitting in the perfect seat is akin to getting the best deals on Black Friday at Wal Mart or shaking Barack Obama's hand, but please, for my health, wait for those of us exiting class to get out of your way before you run in to play "musical chairs" or "go to the head of the class" or whatever the hell you people call it.
10am is just too early to be subjected to a 1L stampede.
Love,
James
P.S - To whoever thinks it's a good idea to sign up on a seating chart before you physically occupy the seat in question, we should also have a discussion.
I understand this is an exciting time in all of your lives. You're here! At Law School! Fantastic!
But, if I have to dodge a bum rush while coming out of Evidence because, as one of you exclaimed at me as you pushed past, "The seating chart was erased!" I am probably going to have an aneurysm. I understand that this is my fault. I simply don't get how sitting in the perfect seat is akin to getting the best deals on Black Friday at Wal Mart or shaking Barack Obama's hand, but please, for my health, wait for those of us exiting class to get out of your way before you run in to play "musical chairs" or "go to the head of the class" or whatever the hell you people call it.
10am is just too early to be subjected to a 1L stampede.
Love,
James
P.S - To whoever thinks it's a good idea to sign up on a seating chart before you physically occupy the seat in question, we should also have a discussion.
Labels: 0L/1L Advice, Legal Issues
posted by James at 1:28 PM
22 Comments:
I appreciate the benefits of an electronic seating chart, but dear God this is getting out of hand. One should not be able to "reserve" a seat. A simple solution: don't activate the online chart until the third week of class.
James,
It is perfectly rational to sign up for a seat before you are sitting in it. It takes about zero effort and has no downside. It actually saves me time because I do all my classes at one time.
If someone is in the seat when I get there, but there are a ton of seats still open, then I can just switch seats. But if the class is full, then at least I have my name on the seating chart, and I don't have to think about it any more.
Wait, what? The class is full, your name is on the chart, someone is in your seat, and you don't have to think about it?
4:13 - Despite it being rational, it doesn't mean it isn't annoying. There is nothing worse than showing up for class, taking a seat, and having someone ask you to move, after you've set up your computer, gotten settled in, etc.
Even better, the professor shouldn't open up the online seating chart until mid-way through the first class, and that way if someone signs up for your seat, you can slap them.
What's the point of an online seating chart anyway? What was wrong with a paper chart that gets passed around? What's the point of even having seating charts? I realize it helps for calling on people, but professor swift has found an elegant solution to that. Sometimes I want to sit by different people. We're (mostly) adults now, we should be able to sit where we want.
btw, this rant would likely carry more weight if I was still a student.
Patrick,
I don't ask the student to move.
If the professor enforces the seating chart, then he will eventually (usually 2nd week) ask people to start sitting in the seats they signed up for.
If the professor does not enforce the seating chart, then I just sit somewhere else.
Signing up for a seat costs me nothing. But if the professor enforces a seating chart it lets me sit where I want.
Has anyone been asked by another student to move?
People like 4:13 is why I hate law students.
Man. What I wouldn't give to be a professor at Boalt. I'd print off the seating chart a week before my first class, and again an hour before. Then, I'm calling on you in the following order: (1) people who were on both charts, but actually moved seats; (2) people on the week old chart; (3) people on the hour old chart. And I'm going to be mean when I do.
So if you're pre-signed for a seat, you damn well better be prepared, because you're getting: "Oh, Larry, you don't know? But you were so fucking eager to have that front-row seat! I thought for sure you'd be on top of your shit every class." or "Hey Larry, that's a pretty stupid-ass answer for the guy that signed up for the front row seat three weeks before class started."
6:04 - I haven't personally, but I've seen it happen on more than one occasion.
6:23 is definitely onto something. We know 4:13 is probably a 1L. We know this is symptomatic of ET's failed admissions policies that favor quantitative performance over "other" considerations in a law school application. And ever since Boalt's meteoric rise in rankings, ET has been wallowing in his own glory. Frankly, ET needs to stop spending time on Facebook friending has-beens like yours truly and start concentrating on admitting only Boalt-worthy candidates. Frankly, ET is simply out of touch with Boalt. Is the admissions office even in the same zip code as Boalt anymore?
Clearly, ET is a rogue, bureaucratic fat cat who should be recalled. It's time to launch the completely grass-roots, but Ned's Bookstore surcharge/student funds funded initiative to recall ET from office for having lost touch with true white-collared, blue-blooded mainstream Boalties. Let's call this, "Hey man, I've got a Strada Latte here" Party movement.
No, it isn't perfectly rational, and it does have downsides.
First, signing up ahead of time only works perfectly if everybody does it, and everybody walks into class knowing exactly which seat they're supposed to sit in. If a single person doesn't know, what are they supposed to do? Walk into the classroom, take out their laptop while hunching over one of the tables at the front, log into AirBears, log into bSpace, go to the class page, click the link for the seating chart page, click the class seating chart link, wait for the gigantic-ass image to load, and figure out which seats don't already have Xs in them? Then go see if you can find one that somebody else isn't already sitting in? (Note: If you get to the seat you reserved and someone else is in it, you can either (a) be a dick and tell them to move, (b) sit in another seat and risk taking one that someone else reserved, or (c) go through this entire process just to find another unreserved open seat)
For another thing, I can only speak for myself but I think I'm at least in the plurality here: class is much more enjoyable when you spend a semester sitting at least NEAR someone you know, if not next to. But how can you reserve seats near your friends online, where it only shows Xs instead of the identity of the person signed up in each seat?
Moreover, I'm in Business Associations, and the professor actually had to announce yesterday that, by the end of this week, people on the waiting list would have to give up the seats they reserved so that people actually in the class could sign up on the seating chart. Sure, that's not an inherent flaw in the system, but if most of the seats are already reserved before the first class, and you think you have a chance of getting in, then you're incentivized to reserve a seat even if you're still on the wait list just so you won't get stuck with the shittiest seats in the classroom that are left over by the end of the first or second week. If the class has a lot of room, that's one thing, but when the class is completely full and there are like 60 people on the wait list, it's another matter entirely.
It made FAR more sense to let people get into the classroom, see which seats are available, see where their friends are sitting (or the annoying people that they don't want to be near), settle into general seating patterns, and then a week or two in, after the final enrollment of the class had been determined, pass around the giant paper seating chart and have everyone sign up for the seat where they were actually physically sitting.
They put maximum sizes on classes for a reason. You're (almost) never going to have literally noplace to sit. And honestly, I think priority should go to the people who get their physical asses into physical seats in the classroom first instead of people who went onto bSpace over the summer and reserved a seat they'd never seen surrounded by totally unknown neighbors that has a fair chance of being occupied when they arrive on the first day of class.
6:32 made my day. I have to say, until now I have had no desire to be a Boalt professor -- zip. Now I'm intrigued.
As to asking people to leave their seat, I was asked to leave a seat in Civ Pro II. To make a long story short, the person who asked turned out to be a great guy and now we are friends.
Go figure, right?
My guess is that 4:13 is a 2L. At least last year they only bothered each other with their pre-semester seat-claiming.
Seating charts are dumb. Anything on the list of why law school is like high school is dumb. End of story.
Just get out of our way, old timers. Problem solved.
ET friended Armen and not me?? Sad!
Is 9:17 Monica?
When I was a lowly 1L last year, I thought seating charts were a big deal. I thought that's how law schools worked and I was supposed to sign up for a seat right away or something like that. So I X'ed myself in before classes actually began. But after a week I realized it was all bullshit. Lesson learned. No more X'ing myself in unless prof is adamant.
I bet the lowly 1L's this year will be having the same epiphany right about now.
Let's calm down. We were all lowly 1L's once.
4:13 here.
I am actually a 3L for the record. I don't see what the problem is. I would honestly like to hear why this makes 6:23 "hate" law students. Here is my explanation. Let me know what I am doing wrong. And please, spare the vitriol.
1. The school has created a system that lets people sign up for seats before they get to class. I don't like the system, and I preferred the old system, but that's how it is.
2. I sign up for a seat on this system, but I don't ask anyone to move, ever. I don't select the first row, or the last row. I just select some random seat.
3. If I end up sitting in another seat that is open, I switch to that seat.
4. If I can't find another open seat because of the confusion of this system, then the professor will eventually unravel the problem by telling everyone to sit in the seats they have signed up for.
5. I am assuming by the second week, even the dude /girl in the seat I signed up for has signed up for some other seat in the class.
I'm not gaming the system. I'm not asking anyone to move. And i'm certainly not trying to get some stupid seat in the front row.
All I am doing is creating the possibility that I will show up to class, get lucky and sit in my assigned seat, and not have to deal with this confusing process any more.
What exactly do people want me to do? What is the optimal plan here?
Will,
I am not saying this system is rational. It's not. But all I can do is try and make a rational choice. I also prefer sitting next friends and people I know, and if it's possible to do I try and make it happen.
--
It's just insane to me that everyone gets so wrapped up by this seat selection process. Just sign up for a stupid seat, show up to class, sit in any open seat, and let the professor sort it out.
Are there a lot more LLMs here this year, or are these LLMs just a lot more talkative than they have been in the past?
I think, ultimately, that no matter what your perspective on proper seating chart etiquette, these issues should not be resolved by yelling at a classmate/getting angry at a classmate.
I saw this happen today and it made me sad.
Big Boys Club aka Evidence Class,
Please refrain from mucking up the desks with your latte frattes and capucinnitos. In conjunction with the heat, b.o. and ironically named "cold calling," it makes a poor 1L want to killself.
-Lowly 1L
Post a Comment
<< Home