Top Party Law Schools

In its September issue, The National Jurist, "the magazine for law students," reports on the ranking by something known as "SubtleDig" of the nation's best and worst law schools for partying.  (Thumbs down on TNJ's editorial assiduousness, as the table says University of Arizona ranks number one, but the text says Arizona State.  I can say as a true son of Michigan that a similar mistake as between our institution and the green and white one to the northwest would have been unconscionable.  I did, however, find it really odd that the University of Michigan Law School - the only school ranked in the top ten where not owning a pair of snow boots would be a mistake - ranks above UNLV as a party school.  Really?  As much as I love Ann Arbor, are the rankers really suggesting that South U has it over The Strip?  That The Blind Pig beats out The Bellagio?  That The Big House trumps beating the house?  )

But I digress.  What I wanted to say was that Tulane's number two ranking resonated with me.  I taught there as a visitor in the 2006-2007 school year.  In the spring semester, I taught secured transactions early in the morning and the first-year course in sales at 2:00 p.m.  Everything in New Orleans is shut down on the Tuesday which is Mardi Gras, but what floored me was the request that I cancel the 2:00 p.m. class the next day (otherwise known as Ash Wednesday) because most students would still be recovering from Tuesday.  I am sure that my declining this request (which I viewed as a sign of the apocalypse) had to do with the mediocre student evaluations I received in that class.

Comments

[John Steele]

I once taught at a school that had a lot of keggers just before my class. I announced that no drinking of alcohol was permitted during ethics class. A student objected, "you're incenting us to chug the beer just before entering." I suppose he had a point.

[Jake]

A request to cancel a class after Mardi Gras floored you? Really? I guess there really is no connection between academia and the real world...

[Alan Childress]

It was better/worse at Tulane this year, Jeff, as Central Administration made us cancel classes on the Tuesday the week before Mardi Gras, too, because of the parade for the Saints winning the Superbowl [in Arizona]. One colleague noted in an email that since his seminar met only on Tuesday afternoons....

All of which makes me truly wonder whether they attend classes in Arizona at all. How can we not be number one? I think the methodology skews too much in favor of self-reporting statistics on six-month and nine-month AA rates after graduation, and we all know how those can be fudged by your administration duly reporting to Rolling Stone. Hell, some schools inebriate their own grads as admissions officers giving tours to applicants, just to pad the numbers.

I am a little surprised you did not mention the Stanford Law grad classmate of yours who is Patient Zero to that table. The current dean of Arizona went there from leading Tulane. Truly the Leader of the Party. What did they teach you people at Stanford? I know the coincidence would work better if he'd left for ASU but still.

I am assuming that Michigan's ranking is based on similar concerns about alcohol consumption in Rejkyav, in Rakiayiv, in Iceland.

[Jeff Lipshaw]

He wasn't my classmate. He was a year ahead of me. I think they changed the curriculum.

[ChildressFan]

I almost wrote a protest e-mail to Tulane's president when they canceled class to celebrate the Saints' Super Bowl win. What kind of message does that send to your students? That you value a sporting event over their tuition dollars and education? I was super pissed and have thus placed a hex on the Saints this season.