Please feel free to continue the prior post discussion. I'm not trying to squelch the conversation. However, there are some good articles to report so I wanted to get this post up.
"NYU Gives Its Stars Loans for Summer Homes," by Ariel Kaminer and Alain Delaqueriere (New York Times)
Money Quote #1: "'That's getting to be a little too sexy even for me, and I have a good sense of humor about these things,' said Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, a former president of George Washington University who has publicly defended high salaries for professors and university executives. 'That is entertaining, actually. I don't think that's prudent. I don't mind paying someone a robust salary, but I think you have to be able to pass a red-face test.'"
Money Quote #2: "'Universities are tax-exempt to educate students, not help their executives purchase vacation homes," [Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa] said in a statement on Monday. 'It's hard to see how the student with a lifetime of debt benefits from his university leaders' weekend homes in the Hamptons.'"
"Law school graduates have one more hurdle, the bar exam, and an expensive one it is," by Diane Knich (The Post & Courier)
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"NYU Gives Its Stars Loans for Summer Homes," by Ariel Kaminer and Alain Delaqueriere (New York Times)
Money Quote #1: "'That's getting to be a little too sexy even for me, and I have a good sense of humor about these things,' said Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, a former president of George Washington University who has publicly defended high salaries for professors and university executives. 'That is entertaining, actually. I don't think that's prudent. I don't mind paying someone a robust salary, but I think you have to be able to pass a red-face test.'"
Money Quote #2: "'Universities are tax-exempt to educate students, not help their executives purchase vacation homes," [Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa] said in a statement on Monday. 'It's hard to see how the student with a lifetime of debt benefits from his university leaders' weekend homes in the Hamptons.'"
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"Law school graduates have one more hurdle, the bar exam, and an expensive one it is," by Diane Knich (The Post & Courier)
Money Quote: "The [Barbir] test-preparation course isn't cheap. Law students, who have been battered in recent years by the crushing student-loan debt and dramatically declining job prospects, must come up with or borrow another $2,500 to $3,000 for the course....The review course is essential....The [bar examination] test covers a great deal of material and [students weren't] exposed to all of it in law school."
"While several law school graduates and representatives from the state's law schools said the Barbri course provides solid preparation for the bar exam, the company's business strategies have recently come under legal scrutiny. Last month, Barbri reached a $9.5 million class-action lawsuit settlement over allegations that it attempted to monopolize the market for bar-exam courses."
See also http://www.barbri-classaction.com/barbri/default.htm for more information.
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Money Quote: "In April, the Arlington County Board quietly approved a site plan amendment for the vacant National Gateway building at 3500 and 3550 S. Clark Street, along Jefferson Davis Highway near Potomac Yard. The amendment was granted to allow the office building to be used for educational purposes. Specifically, the building was to be occupied by a new 1,300-student law school, complete with 22 classrooms, a law library, a bookstore, a moot courtroom and a cafe. Since April, however, no construction permits have been issued for the building. InfiLaw System, a Florida-based consortium of independent law schools that was planning to open the new school, now says that plans have fallen through, at least for now. 'The InfiLaw System was exploring opening a law school in Arlington, Virginia,' confirmed Kathy Heldman, the organization's vice president of marketing, via email last night. 'We have decided to put the initiative on hold."
Read the comments to this article if you don't think the message is getting through. Brutal.
"Humanities Committee Sounds an Alarm," by Jennifer Schuessler (New York Times)
Money Quote: "A new national corps of 'master teachers' trained in the humanities and social sciences and increased support for research in 'endangered' liberal arts subjects are among the recommendations of a major report to be delivered on Capitol Hill on Wednesday....it is intended as a rallying cry against the entrenched idea that the humanities and social sciences are luxuries that employment-minded students can ill afford."
Because, after all, you can always go to law school with one of those undergrad degrees, right?
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"Humanities Committee Sounds an Alarm," by Jennifer Schuessler (New York Times)
Money Quote: "A new national corps of 'master teachers' trained in the humanities and social sciences and increased support for research in 'endangered' liberal arts subjects are among the recommendations of a major report to be delivered on Capitol Hill on Wednesday....it is intended as a rallying cry against the entrenched idea that the humanities and social sciences are luxuries that employment-minded students can ill afford."
Because, after all, you can always go to law school with one of those undergrad degrees, right?
I posted an administrative post that has just gone live, but beneath RAB's great post here so as not to steal his headlines. Please read what I wrote - I had a couple of comments about yesterday, but more importantly I need a little help with something that I screwed up bigtime!
ReplyDeleteNobody has any comments about this post at all? RAB deserves better than this.
ReplyDeleteI guess lethargy really has infected this blog after all. The third article, the one about about the InfiLaw mill being postponed, is major and far more important than yesterday's piece of shit temper tantrum by some spoiled little bitch, and dudes you're not exactly proving her wrong about how uninterested you all seem in these issues. Just saying.
i dont usually comment but the LS scam message is getting clearer. i had all the credentials but i chose not to apply to LS. the purpose of this blog to me is to get a sense of reality, and whether i post doesnt really mean much. the point is my action, or specifically inaction (not attending LS), is more important than a few supportive blog comments.
Deleteright now the LS gravy train is derailing, and will continue so. this blog adds fuel to the fire.
DeleteYou shouldn't measure the impact of the blog by the number of comments. Rush Limbaugh once said that it's a major mistake to judge the success of a talk show by the volume of calls, and it's the same with blogs. You play to the audience, not the commenters.
Interesting stuff planned for tomorrow too. Brooklyn Law unloading six buildings and the dean is a little testy about explaining why. Stay tuned!
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting. I hope law professors start getting laid off. This needs to spread ... Like a virus. I can't wait to see the law school brand destroyed.
ReplyDeleteSomebody posted in the rant thread that Oklahoma has just laid off a few faculty and staff. I know of no details on it or if it is true.
DeleteSo a law school that almost opened didn't.
ReplyDeleteCould this be the last signpost before we get to an actual law school closing?
Incidentally, how should we celebrate a law school closing when it actually happens?
--Jim
And yet, the ABA provisionally approved Belmont here in Tennessee---that makes six law schools (if you count Lincoln) in a state of less than 6 million. What a destructive, enabling, clueless organization! Still, we will take good news where it can be found. Thanks. Great post, as usual.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, to the point made yesterday, I send this blog to every boomer lawyer I know (being of the hated tribe myself). The message is increasingly getting through to this generation, albeit slowly.
How could VA/DC possibly need another law school??
ReplyDeleteThe saddest part is that they probably could have filled all the seats (and ruined plenty of lives) using glossy brochures highlighting the exciting legal opportunities in DC (for which students of this school would have been grossly unqualified).