Mr. Manners is Back

Oh Boalt, every year we start anew and every year I have to be grumpy about people making messes and not cleaning them up.

I am not sure which one of you decided it was cool to lay a Mario Kart style trap during your Con Law class (or whatever class was in 100 before that), but come on, throwing a banana peel on the floor? Really?

Blake's and Beckett's Close in the Same Week, Please Don't Let Kip's Be Next

That's right. Both Beckett's and Blake's closed this week. They likely both went out of business because Boalt students boycotted both establishments due to their bad service and poor atmosphere. That and both were way too big to barely sell any food and be half full on the weekends.

So, what now? Well, it's clear that we really only have one choice: Every Bar Review from here on out is at Kip's. We cannot let the best-carpeted karaoke dance floor in the Western Hemisphere close and I think it's the responsibility of everyone to support a bar where the seating consists of picnic tables from my middle school.

Also, it's a great alternative to the Down Low. Just sayin'.

Love,
James

DE Stands Up For Academic Freedom

In today's Contra Costa Times, DE responded to an article which inferred that the University may discipline Y*o for his opinions during work for the Bush administration. Click on the title of this post for a link.

Please note that I do not include an opinion here as to torture memo's, or any other work by Professor Y*o. While I know that there are people who have strong opinions on both sides, MY belief is that this country, and even moreso this university, should be a place where people may express their views freely, honestly, and constructively. Professor Y*o did work in the service of this country, even if you disagree that it was the correct path for the country to go. He was doing what he thought was right, even though it may turn out that he was wrong.

Remember that a University is not a court of law, and is not a judge on whether academic views are correct, legal, or just. As DE discusses in the article, it would be a step back for academic freedom to punish someone for expressing views that foster academic debate. If Professor Y*o did something illegal, it is for prosecutors and courts to decide---not Berkeley.

I commend DE for standing up for one of our Professors. Even if you disagree with Professor Y*o (and many at Boalt do), we should all be glad that McCarthy-esque witch-hunts will not be tolerated by the leaders of our school.

Thank you Boalt, and thank you, DE.

Grades Rankings and Egos Oh My

I continue to despise any sembelance of competition and/or competitive spirit. I don't mean that I hate excellence in your legal coursework...quite the opposite. But given that we are graded on a curve, I can't stand the need for some to feel "validated" with grades. I ask that everyone read my first ever post on De Novo, prior to commenting here.

Also be mindful of the Honor Code and its restrictions on discussing grades.

May Day May Day

Ok so by now most of you have gotten the e-mail from Dean Ortiz that Boalt will reschedule your Monday exam if you plan on missing it to take part in the immigrant work-stoppage thingy on May 1. I think it's very kind of the school to accommodate those who choose to take part. I just hope no one (1) abuses it to get a few extra days of studying and (2) tries to get an exam extension for every single social justice cause that falls in early May. Personally, I stopped taking part in May Day events after leaving the Soviet Union. It's just not the same without the large Red Banners.

Lest anyone take my thoughts and construe them to be ultra-conservative rants, I also want to take a minute to say something about this whole immigration nonsense. I think the U.S. like any other country has a right to secure her borders. But I cannot take any talk of immigration reform seriously. Here's why. The history and current dialogue in this country (see, e.g., Lou Dobbs) is nothing more than masked xenophobia. Prime example are the idiotic letters and postcards sent to Antonio Villaraigosa and Cruz Bustamante. Two former speakers of the Assembly, and prominent elected officials WHO WERE BORN IN THE UNITED STATES. Those are the kinds of people that I associate with "immigration reform." This might be irrational on my part, but up until this point in history I have not seen one iota of evidence that immigration is causing our downfall. Quite the contrary, such dialogue has always been used to fuel innate dislike of those "ethnic types." That is all.

No Snitching

With the NBA playoffs and Boalt finals on everyones' minds, I'm sure all of you know where I am going with that subject line. That's right: it's either (a) Carmelo Anthony's star turn in a gritty, low-budget movie last year, or (b) a curious portion of Holly Parrish's email today on exam guidelines. OK, actually, it's just (b). Let's talk about this paranthetical section for a moment:

(Note: it's come to the attention of Dean Ortiz that some students intend to cheat by pasting material in to their exam answers. This is absolutely an Honor Code violation and offenders risk suspension. Furthermore, we will have to return to using Examsoft if this becomes an issue. There was significant opposition to doing away with Examsoft because of the fear of cheating by students. The faculty decided to permit exams to be taken without Examsoft because they trust students will behave honorably.)

I found this aside troubling, and a bit silly, on a number of levels. First of all, I find it hard to believe that Boalt students seriously "intend to cheat", or would be doing so openly that Dean O could find out, but perhaps that's just naivete. Note the assertion is not made as if Dean O merely "heard a rumor", but that she had confirmed the students' alleged intention. Has she? And how would Dean Ortiz come about all this information? Her web of informants? And was there actually serious faculty resistance to doing away with Examsoft? We never really heard about the decision-making process on that, so I just don't know. The whole scenario (students plotting to cheat, Dean O uncovering their nefarious plans, and the threat to reinstate Examsoft (OH NO!) "if this becomes an issue") strikes me as both unlikely and needlessly hyperbolic. It reminds me of a parent issuing a threat to a truculent child: "I'm going to get you pizza for dinner, but you have to eat your vegetables. I have heard -- and I'm not going to tell you how -- that you don't intend to eat your vegetables. If you don't eat your vegetables we won't get you pizza for dinner again. When your mother and I discussed this, we were worried that if we got pizza then you wouldn't eat your vegetables. We're getting you pizza because we trust that you will eat your vegetables."* I don't know. Exam studying makes me really grumpy, and the way that section was worded just struck me as a bit condescending.

None of the foregoing should be read as an endorsement of cheating or the administration's active efforts to ensure that cheating does not occur. It's just a plea that the administration at Boalt interact with students as adults. The rest of the email makes it clear that use of electronic resources under the new procedures (including "cutting and pasting") is forbidden. That should be sufficient, without adding in innuendo and rumor-mongering and threats.

That said, Boalties, don't cheat on your exams. Even if you're not caught, it's probably not worth either the effort or the risk considering the pernicious effects such behavior will have on your karma and your conscience. Moreover, if your are caught, it could get you suspended (I would have thought expelled, but whatever) and it could result in the reinstatement of the dreaded Examsoft. All that, and it's just incredibly lame. Don't be lame.

*Lengthy analogy kind funny on its own, but especially when you consider that the "pizza"/good stuff that they're offering us is really just a slightly more convenient and less technologically cumbersome way TO TAKE A LAW SCHOOL EXAM. Wow, talk about the soft bigotry of low expectations. They figure out a way to administer an exam more efficiently, and here I am comparing it to some kind of reward. It reminds me of the old saw about law firm partnership: Partnership is like a pie-eating contest where the prize for first place is more pie.

Honor Code, Schmonor Code...

So I personally couldn't give a ... about my class ranking, people seem to be really exercised about it in the comments. Cool. I'm not judging. But I was curious about something: in her original email, Dean O said:

Remember, if you do receive your ranking from me, you may use it only for purposes of applying for a clerkship. Any other use or disclosure would be a violation of the Honor Code.

That got me thinking about the Honor Code. So I actually read it (NB: I didn't pore over it. I skimmed it. I have better things to do. Really. I do.). And I just don't see any language that in the Code that reads anything like "you can't talk about your ranking." If they're going to insist we take that thing seriously (and the number of times Dean O trots out "it's a violation of the Honor Code..." indicates they expect us to take it seriously), then they can't be all chicken little about it. Where's the language in the Honor Code about not discussing rankings? Tell me please. The Code is here.
Update: Check out the comments to see what an idiot I am! Ahh, if I've learned nothing else in law school (and really, it's sad how little I've learned), I have learned humility. And humiliation. Both of those. Good times.

TPS Cover Reports Memo

I'm passing this along from Holly:

Hi Armen,

Could you get the word out that people should not be discussing exams in the comment section of your blog? We still have students who haven't taken the Tax exam. In fact, for most classes there are students who reschedule so people shouldn't be discussing the exam until after the exam period is over.

Thanks,
Holly

My thoughts: I have no problems complying because Holly and the rest of the Student Services staff are incredibly nice (contra, the fire-breathing dragons at the registrar's office), BUT, I firmly believe discussing the exam either online, or in person, or for that matter using a skywriter is not a violation of the Honor Code, and I reserve the right to change course at a later time. For now, I have to get back to my [censored] take-home.