The Faculty Lounge

Grading in a Time of Crisis

This is a guest post by UCLA's Noah Zatz, explaining why he supports moving to a Pass/Fail system for spring semester grades (edited lightly from a letter to the UCLA administrative and faculty leadership, and posted on his Facebook page):

I am of the firm and strong view that we should go mandatory P/NP. I have thought about it a lot over the past week, steadily moving in this direction after pausing to consider a variety of alternatives. This includes many conversations with my Section 3/4 1Ls, including after I solicited viewpoints opposing such a move to make sure I was not missing something.

These have been extremely illuminating, often heart-wrenching conversations. I have heard from students struggling with mental health difficulties exacerbated by stress, isolation, and worry. I have heard from students relocating across the country to be with family members who are extremely vulnerable, for whom they are terrified, and with whom they confess they will find it very difficult to live in close proximity, despite their love. I have heard from students in precarious economic circumstances whose ability to study has been seriously disrupted by loss of access to the library, both as a physical space in which to study relative to their marginal housing situation and as a way to access books, and who lack reliable internet access from home. I have also heard from other students sheepishly acknowledging that they have so far have suffered little direct effect, and in fact have benefited from additional time to study, as they live comfortably in LA and have their family nearby, and some of them have had the self-awareness to observe that this relative insulation actually confers additional and unfair advantage on them in any competitively structured process.

I approach this with a normative stance that this extraordinary crisis calls for extraordinary compassion, flexibility, and solidarity. My view of the essential facts are, first, that there already is, and soon will be much, much more, tremendous variation in how this crisis affects our students. Some of that will be random. Much of it will not be. The economic dislocations are just beginning to appear, but they are going to be tremendous over the next month, and of course they will track inequality and precarity. The health threats are also just beginning to be seen, and although those will be somewhat more randomly distributed, they also are likely to be quite uneven, not only along obvious dimensions of pre-existing medical conditions, but especially once one factors in access to health care.

In terms of this decision, the world that we would have had, if COVID-19 had not struck, is shattered. It is a fool’s errand to pretend otherwise and try to patch together the shards that remain and treat that as preserving what might have been. Any attempt to apply differentiating grades is going to very substantially measure differential impact of this crisis. That is totally unacceptable. Not only morally, but making a mockery of their purported function of measuring academic performance. They would lack any academic integrity.

I Saw Her Standing There

Judges Posner and Adelman: On the Perils of Commenting on Pending and Impending Proceedings

Judge Lynn Adelman, of the U.S. District Court for the Easter District of Wisconsin, has drawn considerable – and in my opinion, well deserved – criticism for his forthcoming article in the Harvard Law & Policy Review titled “The Roberts Court's Assault on Democracy,” in which he refers to Chief Justice Roberts’s confirmation testimony as “a masterpiece of disingenuousness.” Adelman’s most severe critic has been Josh Blackman, writing at the Volokh Conspiracy. In contrast, Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern, while conceding that Adelman would have been out of line five years ago, argue that Trump’s judges have so “eviscerated” the norms of judicial conduct that Adelman’s response is both justified and admirable.

At PrawfsBlawg, Paul Horwitz joins the criticism of Adelman, though expressing a somewhat gentler view than Blackman. Most interestingly, however, Horwitz simultaneously defends “the long and remarkable record of extrajudicial writing by former judge Richard Posner,” on the ground of Posner’s genius, which always showed “true independence of mind” rather than, on the part of Adelman, “something less than that.” In other words, says Horwitz, “I think the answer comes down to the difference between genius and banality.” In particular, Horwitz believes that Posner’s book on the Clinton impeachment – An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton – is an actual masterpiece because it is "interesting, provocative, witty, and humane."

Maybe so, but An Affair of State was also seriously unethical, as it commented on both pending and impending proceedings, in violation of Canon 3A(6) of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges. Adelman, at least, confines his critique to cases that have already been decided, but Posner went much further, condemning Clinton for perjury – after the impeachment acquittal but in the midst of the subsequent criminal investigation and disbarment case.

I explained this all in a 2000 article for Court Review, the journal of the American Judges Association, which you can read after the jump.

SCOTUS Should Cancel Oral Arguments, Not Just Postpone Them (Probably)

The U.S. Supreme Court has wisely decided not to hold its scheduled oral arguments through at least April 1, announcing that it “will examine the options for rescheduling those cases in due course.” While it was obviously necessary to avoid holding court during the Covid-19 emergency – courts are closed across the country – I have to wonder why the arguments were not simply canceled, rather than postponed. Rescheduling the arguments means that decisions will be delayed. Given the uncertainty of the public health crisis, the delays could be significant, even for cases in which there is a great public interest in the decisions.

Oral argument – especially in person – is an artifact of the past. Long lines of would-be attendees notwithstanding, it is mostly performative, and it is hard to see how it ever contributes to case outcomes. Yes, justices have said it can be useful to “sharpen the issues,” but you would think that the nine best judges in the country, assisted by dozens of brilliant clerks, ought to be able to sharpen the issues on their own after reading the record and the briefs. And let’s say that oral argument now and then does change a justice’s vote; there is still no way to know whether it was changed for the better. Why assume that oral give-and-take produces a better outcome than extended quiet reflection?

Idaho Law Seeks Visitors for Boise Campus

This just in:

The University of Idaho College of Law seeks entry-level or experienced faculty members interested in serving as a full-time, temporary faculty member for the 2020-2021 academic year to direct the College’s Entrepreneurship Law Clinic at its Boise location. The Entrepreneurship Law Clinic is devoted to outreach to the startup and small business community in Idaho. For more information and to apply, go here: https://uidaho.peopleadmin.com/postings/28557 

The University of Idaho College of Law also seeks entry-level or experienced faculty members interested in serving as a full-time, temporary faculty member for the 2020-2021 academic year to teach first-year Contracts and several Intellectual Property Law courses (potentially including Introduction to Intellectual Property, Copyrights, Trademarks & Trade Dress, Patents, Internet Law, and/or Antitrust). For more information and to apply, go here: https://uidaho.peopleadmin.com/postings/28556 

Questions can be directed to Associate Dean Wendy Couture at wgcouture@uidaho.edu.

Hiring Announcement: Chicago-Kent College of Law

From an email message that I received earlier today:

Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology invites nominations and applications for Co-director/Director of the Institute for Law and the Workplace (ILW) and Professor of Law. ILW is a national center for research, training, dialogue, and reflection on the law that governs the workplace, and it serves as an intellectual home for the labor and employment law community, both in the Chicago area and nationwide. ILW includes a certificate program for J.D. students in labor and employment law, a program of conferences, lectures, and other events, and two journals on labor and employment law.

Hiring Announcement: Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (Cleveland State University)

From an email message that I received earlier today:

The Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University, invites applications for two tenure-track Assistant Professors of Law, at the entry or junior lateral level. Along with teaching and research, each will participate in one of two thriving and innovative research centers, in a growing and welcoming metropolitan community.

Please direct inquiries to Prof. Chris Sagers, Chair of the Search Committee, at (216) 687-2319 or c.sagers@csuohio.edu.

Health Law & Policy: The candidate will participate in Cleveland-Marshall’s Center for Health Law & Policy (https://www.law.csuohio.edu/academics/chlp), a nationally prominent center for health policy and bioethics research, with links to the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and other stakeholders in Cleveland’s large and sophisticated medical community. Our principal curricular needs for the position are in health care law and bioethics.

For more information and application procedure, please visit http://hrjobs.csuohio.edu/postings/12379

Cybersecurity and Intellectual Property: The candidate will participate in Cleveland Marsha’l's Center for Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection (https://www.law.csuohio.edu/academics/cybersecurity). The Center is a prominent contributor to national debate on these matters and works directly with federal and state agency leaders, national law reform organizations, and leading academics.  Our principal curricular needs for the position are in data security, data privacy and intellectual property. Ideal candidates can both assist with the Center’s work and curriculum, and contribute strength in intellectual property, to help grow our IP program.

For more information and application procedure, please visit http://hrjobs.csuohio.edu/postings/12379

The Importance of a Campus

As have many universities, Northwestern recently moved all of its courses online for the rest of the academic year. The below essay by Aaron Barlow of CUNY City Tech, reposted from the AAUP's Academe Blog with permission, describes the response of his students to the prospect of distance teaching, and the value they place on the interactions of campus life:

ACADEME BLOG

The blog of Academe magazine

Students and the Campus

March 13, 2020

BY AARON BARLOW

When I told my students on Wednesday that we would indeed be moving all of our activities online for the rest of the semester, they groaned. I was a little surprised. I thought they would like the idea that they could finish their classes from home. I believed that they would imagine online college easier, and that it is just as good as the classroom experience.

Putting aside the normal pandering, saying such things as how much they will miss their professors and each other, my students made a number of very good points. They said that the act of going to school is important to them, that it structures their lives in a way that even synchronous online classes could never match. They said that the physical interactions with professors and other students energize them, making their studies more interesting even when they have to slog through dense material or those courses that don’t interest them at all.

They were most upset over loss of the lab hours (this was before it was announced that many labs would continue on campus), a Hospitality Management student looking at his hands and saying the heart of his education beats in the kitchen, its blood flowing to his hands through those of the chefs instructing him there. And, speaking of blood, a student in a Biology course was almost in tears: her next lab was to be the dissection of a sheep brain, something she had really been looking forward to. Anatomy and Physiology students in each of my afternoon classes complained that they had been about to start work with human skeletons, something they keenly anticipated.

Most of all, though, the students were worried about the loss of each other.

Welcoming Collaboration from Business Orgs/Corps Profs

Nadia Ahmad (Barry) and I are both teaching from the new textbook by Lisa Fairfax (GW), Business Organizations: An Integrated Approach (Foundation Press 2020).  We are in the process of planning to pool resources to create video resources for students.  We welcome collaborators who would like to develop a library of materials that students could use (e.g., pre-recorded lectures of professors discussing cases, etc.).

If anyone else is teaching from Professor Fairfax's book and would like to join forces with Professor Ahmad and me, please contact me at bcrawford at law dot pace dot edu.  I'm happy to share whatever videos, etc. I already have and those I make going forward.

 

 

Sunny Songs

When "Zoom" Meant Something Completely Different

 

Fellow Gen Xers may appreciate this blast from the past. Zoom was a children's educational TV program on PBS from 1972 to 1978.

Th-ubi-at w-ubi-as ubi-a l-ubi-ong t-ubi-ime ubi-ag-ubi-o.

Our Man in Wuhan, Part II

Another interview with my friend Kurt Mitenbuler, who has been quarantined in China since December:

 

More Online Teaching Resources

To add to the current compilation of materials on how to move to remote teaching, I wanted to share the following SSRN links.

The first was posted this week by Prof Agnieszka McPeak (Duquesne) and is a straightforward, simple best practices guide to moving things online. Six pages, easy to read and great advice:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3553094

The second is a piece I wrote last year which is longer and focuses more on the costs and benefits of law schools moving to online teaching, but it also includes some practical observations on larger and smaller group teaching online:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3491427

Hopefully some of those struggling to get online quickly may make use of these pieces. I highly recommend Prof McPeak's thoughts.

 

Civ Pro Themed Hand Washing Guide

As we all know by now, handwashing is important. Just for kicks I created this Civ Pro themed handwashing guide for my students.

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Hiring Announcement: Peking University School of Transnational Law Seeks Visitors

Peking University School of Transnational Law (“STL”) invites inquiries from experienced professors, both active and retired, for ten-week visits (one academic quarter) or more during AY 2020-21.  We are in need of professors for the following J.D. courses:  Contracts, Civil Procedure, Torts, Constitutional Law, International Business Transactions, Securities Regulation, Trusts and Estates, and Family Law.  STL provides visiting professors with visa assistance, round-trip air and ground transportation, housing or a housing allowance, and compensation in U.S. dollars or RMB.

Peking University is China’s oldest and most renowned comprehensive research university.  STL is the only law school in China to offer an American Law J.D., taught in English, along with a China law Juris Master (J.M.), taught largely in Chinese. Students admitted to STL’s J.D./J.M. dual degree program are among the most academically talented in China.

STL is located on Peking University's Shenzhen campus, minutes from Hong Kong, which is easily accessible by ferry, train, car or bus.   Shenzhen is renowned as China’s “Silicon Valley,” home to information and biotechnology start-ups and such innovative giants as Tencent, Huawei, BGI, BYD, and DJI Drones.  Together, Shenzhen and Hong Kong form the hub of the world’s most populous metropolitan area, China’s Pearl River Delta, where Chinese and Western legal and commercial traditions are meeting and merging in ways likely to preview future legal developments throughout China and the rest of the world as China’s global economic influence grows. 

Inquiries should be addressed to Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs Christian Pangilinan at christiandpangilinan@gmail.com.  

Hiring Announcement: Northern Kentucky University, Salmon P. Chase College of Law (Visiting Faculty Position)

From an email message that I received earlier this week:

Northern Kentucky University – Salmon P. Chase College of Law invites applications for a Visiting Faculty Position for the 2020-2021 academic year.  We are looking for visitors who can cover the following courses: (1) Property; (2) UCC Basics; (3) Constitutional Law II (individual rights); and Criminal Procedure.  Candidates willing/able to teach any combination of those courses are encouraged to apply. The position will be a temporary, full-time, two-semester, non-tenure-track appointment. All applicants should have excellent academic credentials and demonstrated skill in teaching.

NKU is a growing metropolitan university of more than 14,000 students served by more than 2,000 faculty and staff on a thriving suburban campus near Cincinnati. Located in the quiet suburb of Highland Heights, Kentucky—just seven miles southeast of Cincinnati—we have become a leader in Greater Cincinnati and Kentucky by providing a private school education for a fraction of the cost. While we are one of the fastest growing universities in Kentucky, our professors still know our students' names.

For more information about NKU and Chase, please visit nku.edu and chaselaw.nku.edu.  NKU is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access/Affirmative Action institution. We embrace inclusiveness, equity, and global awareness in all dimensions of our work and seek excellence through diversity among our students, administrators, faculty, and staff. Application by members of diverse groups is highly encouraged.

Villanova Law Seeks Multiple Fellows/VAPs

The Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law is hiring, and has multiple positions open, including an innovative fellow dedicated to finding solutions to the problem of poverty. Villanova's VAP/Fellow program has been highly successful, placing many of its alumni in teaching positions all over the country.

1. Fellow to End Poverty:

The Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law seeks a visionary thinker, scholar, and educator with the diverse skills, background, and interests necessary to advance creative and innovative ways to solve the problem of poverty in the United States. The successful candidate will lead the Initiative to End Poverty and Inequality at Villanova University, an interdisciplinary enterprise housed in the Charles Widger School of Law. The Initiative to End Poverty and Inequality will support programmatic initiatives to generate concrete ideas and policy solutions to address the problem of poverty, including development of an annual symposium. The Initiative will approach the causes and effects of poverty with an interdisciplinary, evidence-based approach that prioritizes efforts that will yield concrete results and maximum advancement toward eliminating poverty.

More details on this position are available here: http://jobs.villanova.edu/postings/18343. Applications should be submitted in the same place, though questions may be directed to Vice Dean Michael Risch (risch at law.villanova.edu).

2. Visiting Assistant Professor and Director of the Clinic for Asylum, Refugee and Emigrant Services (CARES) Clinic:

Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law seeks an outstanding lawyer-educator to direct and teach its Clinic for Asylum, Refugee & Emigrant Services (CARES) as a Visiting Assistant Professor, Visiting Associate Professor, or Visiting Professor during academic year 2020-21. The Clinic represents asylum seekers in immigration court and before the USCIS Asylum Office.

More details on this position are available here: https://jobs.villanova.edu/postings/18442.

3. Fellow in Business, Law & Economics (VAP):

Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law seeks a qualified individual to serve as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law and Fellow in Law, Business and Economics during academic year 2020-2021. The position is a 12-month, visiting position beginning in the summer of 2020, with the possibility of one additional 12-month term.

Villanova Law has recently been enhancing its efforts to educate lawyers who understand the law's connection to business, economics, and entrepreneurship. Key initiatives have included the founding of the John F. Scarpa Center for Law and Entrepreneurship, with scholarly programs, innovative courses, and experiential learning opportunities. The successful candidate will augment these efforts by focusing on teaching and scholarship at the intersection of law, business, and economics.

More details on this position are available here: https://jobs.villanova.edu/postings/18441.

Villanova is a Catholic university sponsored by the Augustinian order. Diversity and inclusion have been and will continue to be an integral component of Villanova University's mission. The University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and seeks candidates who understand, respect and can contribute to the University's mission and values.

Establishing Norms for #Law Student Participation in Remote Learning: Turn Cameras on and Mute That Mic

Like many law schools, my institution has decided to move all classes on-line, to the extent possible, at least until March 29. The Elisabeth Haub School of Law is located in Westchester County, New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo has deployed the National Guard and established a 1-mile "containment area" a few towns over in New Rochelle, New York.

These are unusual times.

Today is the first day that my colleagues and I started teaching on-line. My message, to myself and my colleagues, is to do what you can, with whatever technology you feel comfortable with, and strive for excellence but not perfection.  In other words, we are all going to make mistakes in the on-line classroom, in the same way we make mistakes in the traditional classroom. (I made quite a few in my class this morning.) Many of us are feeling overwhelmed as we figure out the technologies that enable us to teach on line. It seems that at every turn, there is another webinar or click-through to consult.

We will get through this, with patience and good cheer.  Our students want us to succeed; we want them to succeed.  We will not leave our students behind. This will be difficult, for sure. But we will support each other and continue to grow as individuals and as communities.

But how to foster community if I can't see my students and my students can't see each other?  There are technologies that enable us to easily have the equivalent of a massive on-line conference call.  But what if students won't turn on their cameras?  I had more than one colleague say that fewer than half of their students turned their cameras on.  What if students have on their cameras, but I can see their messy beds, partially eaten meals and ... less than professional aspects of their lives?

Every instructor must decide what message to convey to students about virtual "presence." Mine is this:

I recognize students may not have reliable internet access, or may have internet problems at any particular moment. Not all students will have cameras or microphones on their laptops, especially if they have older machines.  I get it (I've been there!).  For these reasons, I'll make sure that students can participate in the on-line session by phone.  All students also will have access to a recording of the session. It's not ideal; it's not the experience any of us signed up for. But we will make sure that the students' learning is not set back.

That being said, I believe it is reasonable to ask students will use the phone option as a back-up measure, not all the time, unless they can let me know.  Students who are physically and technologically able to attend the synchronous class in its regularly scheduled time-slot should do so. 

 

In my class, I consider it part of my student's professional obligation to turn on their cameras, mute their microphones, and remain present for the entire time. Instructors certainly need to be understanding if someone needs to step away from their computer, just as we would be in a traditional class. But the expectation is that the instructors should be able to see the students and vice versa, as a matter of creating and building community. Very few people like to see themselves on camera (I know I don’t). By turning on the camera, we are showing up for each other and saying, “I’m a part of this. We’ll get through this together.”

 

We will! We will not leave anyone behind.

 

P.S. To my students, I don't care if you have made your bed.  I care about your education. Show up in whatever way you can.  We'll work it out (but you might want to check out the "virtual background" function in Zoom....)

Penn State University Park Seeks Asst/Assoc Dean for Non-JD Programs

This just in:

 

Penn State Law seeks an Assistant/Associate Dean of Non-JD Programs. A key member of the Penn State Law leadership team and reporting to the Dean, this entrepreneurial leader will have the responsibility to develop non-JD programs, including potentially MLS degrees, an undergraduate law degree, executive education, and other innovative programs. These non-JD programs may be residential, hybrid, or online. Penn State Law currently has an extensive LL.M. program aimed at foreign students, directed by an Assistant Dean of Graduate and International Programs, which will remain in place as structured. Candidates for this position should have experience successfully developing non-JD programs in a law school setting. This experience should include guiding a marketing research and feasibility study (independently or through effectively engaging a consultant), along with developing and overseeing academic programs. This role will be highly collaborative with members of the Penn State Law leadership team, faculty, and interdisciplinary partners; therefore, candidates should have a demonstrated set of organizational, communication, and relationship building skills. Candidates should also have a demonstrated commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion efforts within higher education. The position will be filled as either an administrator or academic administrator depending on the qualifications of the successful candidate. An administrator position typically requires a Master’s degree plus 10 years of relevant experience, a J.D. degree is preferred. An academic administrator position typically requires a Ph.D., J.D. or equivalent degree and 8 years of relevant experience. If filled as an academic administrator, duties may include teaching as well. Penn State Law is located on Penn State’s University Park, Pennsylvania campus. For more information, please visit our website at https://pennstatelaw.psu.edu/. Penn State is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. Those interested in applying can do so through this ad, https://psu.jobs/job/93719,

Organize an AALS Panel!

Did you know that you can organize a session at the 2021 annual AALS meeting without being affiliated with an AALS Section?  You can!  The AALS will take proposals for four different types of non-section sponsored events:

• Open Source programs are traditional scholarly programs other than those sponsored by one of the AALS Sections. Proposals due April 13.

• Discussion Groups provide a setting for discussions among a small group of invited participants. Attendees are welcome. Proposals due April 13.

• Symposia are extended sessions (half a day or longer) that focus on in-depth scholarly exploration of a topic of academic interest. Proposals due May 11.

• Hot Topic programs focus on topics that emerged too late in the year to be included in other types of programs. Proposals due October 19. Proposals directly related to the outcome of the November 2020 elections and that could not be proposed in time for the October deadline are due November 16.

Go here for more details.