mr_toad wrote:Confrontational for sure: he was taking on Posner... but the points he made were on target, I thought. It's good to take on iconoclasts, and I thought that it was actually nice to see that the guy who is at least nominally in charge of the law school is out there making intellectually courageous arguments. The things he criticized about Posner's book were the very same things I preach to my freshman composition students... support your assertions, broaden your evidence base, don't assume that your anecdotes can be generalized.
I agree with the points Dean Levi made, but it's hard not to (who would be against evidence-backed theories and sound statistical analyses?). But I am always hesitant to say I agree with one side until I have heard the adversary. Dean Levi quotes many passages from Posner's book, but statements taken out of context can easily be misconstrued.
In any case, it was an interesting read. I haven't gotten anything like it from my other law schools. It did a nice job of selling Duke Law as an academic institution, not solely a professional school.