WUSTL Recent Grad (and others) Taking Questions Forum

[jdmonkey]

I agree with the Professor in declining the award. Why do they have one award for professor of the year and the other for practice professor of the year? If they are equal then one should be doctrinal prof. of year and the other practice prof. of year. Or just prof. of year. If Wash U made a commitment to her that she would be treated the same as the other profs then she has every right to be angry, cause this award is lesser. Also I think she is right about the problem of valuing doctrinal over practice. Both are just as important, and if you give lesser awards to practice profs or pay them less you are saying doctrinal is more important, which isn't the case. For an internship or a job LP and LRM are just as important as property etc.


Also the SBA should have notified the winners first before blasting an all school e-mail, which would have prevented this situation in the 1st place.

We used to have just one award but the same professors kept winning and the professors with smaller classes were never recognized. So SBA sought a way to honor those professors. It could have been done to only have professors who just teach practical classes and no overlap but oh well. Her email was completely over the top and was self indulging "at Tennessee I was professor of the year. Period." Okay good for you.

Send it to the Sba president and other faculty it doesn't need to go to everybody. And secondly, in no way is she "ghetto-ized".

You make a good point. The email was self-indulgent. By reacting in the way she did, it took away from Professor Inazu's moment to shine. Being awarded professor of the year is a huge honor, and it is unfortunate that this detracted from it.

[Cellar-door]

I agree with the Professor in declining the award. Why do they have one award for professor of the year and the other for practice professor of the year? If they are equal then one should be doctrinal prof. of year and the other practice prof. of year. Or just prof. of year. If Wash U made a commitment to her that she would be treated the same as the other profs then she has every right to be angry, cause this award is lesser. Also I think she is right about the problem of valuing doctrinal over practice. Both are just as important, and if you give lesser awards to practice profs or pay them less you are saying doctrinal is more important, which isn't the case. For an internship or a job LP and LRM are just as important as property etc.


Also the SBA should have notified the winners first before blasting an all school e-mail, which would have prevented this situation in the 1st place.

lol it's very unlikely that it would have prevented the situation. This prof clearly wanted to be heard. You really think she would have quietly rejected the award if SBA had told her beforehand? (There's a good chance they did tell her beforehand)

She wanted a forum to be heard and to express her displeasure. She would have pulled this stunt no matter what.

Internal faculty politics underlie a lot of this stuff (e.g. why Tamanaha will never ever be dean of this law school no matter how awesome that would be). It's unfortunate? Sure. But it's reality. Maybe SBA will rename the award. But this is the 2nd time a clinical prof has protested the award. The clinicians weren't happy with the previous title..i think it was "Clinical Prof of the Year" or something like that. So SBA renamed it. And now they're unhappy about it again. To me this just seems like she has a chip on her shoulder.

The award clearly acknowledges that she is a professor. But it's called "Experiential" because that's precisely the nature of her teaching. We are not saying she's less important or less special or whatever. We are honoring her for the experiential aspect of her teaching, which is her clinic.

The reason SBA has a separate award designated to honor the clinical profs is BECAUSE we don't want them to be overlooked. If we didn't set aside such an award and instead had two slots for Professor of the Year, it's unlikely that the clinical profs would be honored at all. The awards would just go to two doctrinal profs every single time. Think about how many people take a single 1L doctrinal class versus the 10-20 3Ls that are in XYZ Clinic. The numbers just aren't there to make the clinicians competitive against the doctrinal profs.

ETA: Scooped by Golden Eye

ETA: Experiential PROFESSOR of the Year from WashU is so much more presTTTTigious than TEACHER of the Year at Tennessee. WHY THE DISPLEASURE?

Why was Tamanaha not on the ballot this year? I assume because if he was he would have won again and they'd like to spread the award around some.

[DoveBodyWash]

Why was Tamanaha not on the ballot this year? I assume because if he was he would have won again and they'd like to spread the award around some.

Yup. The award is really just a way for us to honor the faculty evenly. Certain faculty are removed from the ballot so that everyone gets their day in the sun. Otherwise certain professors would have a monopoly on the award (e.g. Tamanaha, Drobak, Kim, etc..)

[Birdnals]

Why was Tamanaha not on the ballot this year? I assume because if he was he would have won again and they'd like to spread the award around some.

Winning Professors from the last 2-3 years aren't eligible.

[Michael Bluth]

Why was Tamanaha not on the ballot this year? I assume because if he was he would have won again and they'd like to spread the award around some.

Yup. The award is really just a way for us to honor the faculty evenly. Certain faculty are removed from the ballot so that everyone gets their day in the sun. Otherwise certain professors would have a monopoly on the award (e.g. Tamanaha, Drobak, Kim, etc..)

LOL this is pretty ridiculous, too, and probably speaks to the culture of academia that produces emails like the one in question.

That's like saying "take KD and LBJ off the ballot for NBA MVP, we want other people to win, too."

This isn't tee ball - it isn't the end of the world if everyone doesn't get their participation ribbon.

[DoveBodyWash]

Why was Tamanaha not on the ballot this year? I assume because if he was he would have won again and they'd like to spread the award around some.

Yup. The award is really just a way for us to honor the faculty evenly. Certain faculty are removed from the ballot so that everyone gets their day in the sun. Otherwise certain professors would have a monopoly on the award (e.g. Tamanaha, Drobak, Kim, etc..)

LOL this is pretty ridiculous, too, and probably speaks to the culture of academia that produces emails like the one in question.

That's like saying "take KD and LBJ off the ballot for NBA MVP, we want other people to win, too."

This isn't tee ball - it isn't the end of the world if everyone doesn't get their participation ribbon.

these built-in restrictions and petty faculty politics are what's holding us back from a Tamanaha regime...sigh how awesome would that be

[Presidentjlh]

Regardless of the politics or the issue with the award, and the unnecessariness of two awards, it's just rude and petty to bitch about an award you've received. Just accept it or respectfully decline it.

[Presidentjlh]

Also, pleased Inazu won Prof of the Year, he's a legal beast.

[DoveBodyWash]

Are any rising 2Ls thinking of targeting Boston firms? Would be nice to have someone else to talk about this stuff with, PM me if you're out there

(Same goes with any 3Ls or recent grads that have experience with the firms in Boston)

[fl0w]

Are any rising 2Ls thinking of targeting Boston firms? Would be nice to have someone else to talk about this stuff with, PM me if you're out there

(Same goes with any 3Ls or recent grads that have experience with the firms in Boston)

there are at least a couple fairly recent alumni in that area. cso should be able to put you in touch.

[hoos89]

There's a bunch of recent alums at Goodwin Proctor (all pre-crash, though, I think). There's also a Boston off campus interview program, but last year only 2 firms went. WUSTL doesn't have a ton of alumni at Boston firms though.

[Ref]

We used to have just one award but the same professors kept winning and the professors with smaller classes were never recognized. So SBA sought a way to honor those professors. It could have been done to only have professors who just teach practical classes and no overlap but oh well. Her email was completely over the top and was self indulging "at Tennessee I was professor of the year. Period." Okay good for you.

Send it to the Sba president and other faculty it doesn't need to go to everybody. And secondly, in no way is she "ghetto-ized".

You make a good point. The email was self-indulgent. By reacting in the way she did, it took away from Professor Inazu's moment to shine. Being awarded professor of the year is a huge honor, and it is unfortunate that this detracted from it.

+1 to both of the above.

Big congrats to Inazu.

[hoos89]

Also, I don't understand her point about there being 2 professor of the year awards. My understanding is that she was eligible for the professor of the year award and just didn't win it. I'm also guessing that she didn't come in second. Is she suggesting that there should be a professor of the year award for which only "experiential" professors are eligible? Because that's just dumb. Almost as dumb as CC'ing the entire student body onto her petty disagreement with the name of an award that she won.

[hoos89]

One of the classes I was going to take next semester got cancelled.

Anyone have an opinion on either:
UCC Article 2 with Greenfield, given that I liked Contracts? or
Patent Law with Collins, as someone without a technical background?

[yossarian]

ATL set to cover the email

[bouakedojo]

ATL set to cover the email

Did you send it?

[yossarian]

No. Not at all. I'm a 0L and I don't really know what happened. But, Elie Mystal tweeted, "OK WashU professor. After approximately 1200 tips about your email, I'm writing it up."

[bouakedojo]

No. Not at all. I'm a 0L and I don't really know what happened. But, Elie Mystal tweeted, "OK WashU professor. After approximately 1200 tips about your email, I'm writing it up."

Oh, I see. Just wondering how you knew.

Sounds like most of the student body sent it on, though.

[Ricky-Bobby]

No. Not at all. I'm a 0L and I don't really know what happened. But, Elie Mystal tweeted, "OK WashU professor. After approximately 1200 tips about your email, I'm writing it up."

Look at Elie, pretending he has the luxury of choosing between numerous relevant topics.

[yossarian]

No. Not at all. I'm a 0L and I don't really know what happened. But, Elie Mystal tweeted, "OK WashU professor. After approximately 1200 tips about your email, I'm writing it up."

Look at Elie, pretending he has the luxury of choosing between numerous relevant topics.

You always pop into conversations at precisely the right time.

[DoveBodyWash]

No. Not at all. I'm a 0L and I don't really know what happened. But, Elie Mystal tweeted, "OK WashU professor. After approximately 1200 tips about your email, I'm writing it up."

Look at Elie, pretending he has the luxury of choosing between numerous relevant topics.

I'm excited for the next "LAYOFFS, YOU'RE ALL FUCKED" article that reports that some podunk firm laid-off 3 IT staff and 2 legal assistants with severance.

[Ricky-Bobby]

You always pop into conversations at precisely the right time.

I'm excited for the next "LAYOFFS, YOU'RE ALL FUCKED" article that reports that some podunk firm laid-off 3 IT staff and 2 legal assistants with severance.

"WHICH FIRM IS SLASHING ASSOCIATE AND SUPPORT POSITIONS? FIND OUT AFTER THE JUMP..."

[Cellar-door]

No. Not at all. I'm a 0L and I don't really know what happened. But, Elie Mystal tweeted, "OK WashU professor. After approximately 1200 tips about your email, I'm writing it up."

And by 1200 I'm pretty sure he means 2. I like that the way it is poorly phrased makes it sound like the professor is sending the tips.

Edit- Cuse, I'm pretty sure you just made ATL in the form of a paraphrase of your post in this thread. Congrats.

[yossarian]

Yeah, very poorly written tweet for a journalist.

[georgej]

Important question: Is there a cheap place to buy oranges in town? Because when I visited st. louis and went into Schnucks it was like 4 oranges for 5 bucks. I am used to 4lbs of oranges for 1dollar. Please help.