New Haven has begun handing out Resident Cards to any persons bringing proof of identity and residency.
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/22234
The student mailing list here has been getting posts urging everyone to get a card in solidarity with the undocumented immigrants this program is supposedly to benefit. And of course, Yale being Yale, someone replied accusing arguments in favor of solidarity with "illegal immigrants" of being "disingenuous." Oh noes!1 someone who doesn't love all immigrants and worship at the feet of the Mexicans coming to take the jobs no one else wants!!
Of course, the person initially starting the debate was only playing the devil's advocate, not really one of those evil, heartless conservatives we're warned about. And 53 posts later, the storm has finally died down (or so we can all pray). The consensus? Resident card good, cheap immigrant labor without taking up social resources good, ICE raids bad, accusing ICE of Nazism bad, killing Native Americans and enslaving Africans bad, dehumanizing immigrants bad, empirical studies and economics good, interrupting serious discussion with hilarious cartoons good... the point is there is no consensus. YLS students are a smart bunch (multiple Law Review articles, books, and court decisions cited in the course of those 53 emails), but really volatile. Apparently anything at all is capable of setting us off.
Oh, and among the first years there's a "small group competition" to see who can get the most people in each small group to go get a card on Friday. The prize? An autographed Dean Koh bobblehead. I'll be getting a card; they're good for parking meters and it's a royal pain to find enough coins always laying about to pay those things. Oh yeah, and, I think it's a pretty cool initiative and I hope it's successful.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Law Professors and... popular culture?
One of my professors today made an in-depth reference to Dungeons and Dragons. And another answered a question with a link to a wikipedia article.
In the latter case, that might just mean that wikipedia is being taken more seriously among academics, though, for several reasons, I doubt that is the case. It's probably because wikipedia has become the fastest and most convenient place to find information, and other, more serious sites are harder to find. But D&D - possibly one of the geekiest RPGs of all time?
Mind you, I have nothing against D&D or wikipedia. It's just that I might have expected a little more, well, sophistication from YLS. What is happening to academia?
In the latter case, that might just mean that wikipedia is being taken more seriously among academics, though, for several reasons, I doubt that is the case. It's probably because wikipedia has become the fastest and most convenient place to find information, and other, more serious sites are harder to find. But D&D - possibly one of the geekiest RPGs of all time?
Mind you, I have nothing against D&D or wikipedia. It's just that I might have expected a little more, well, sophistication from YLS. What is happening to academia?
Saturday, November 3, 2007
YLS and waterboarding
YLS isn't too happy with its alum right now.
Mukasey nomination sparks debate at alma mater Yale
(Interestingly, the article says Koh did not respond to requests for comment. When Mukasey was first nominated, he spoke praisingly of him to his class and mentioned specifically Mukasey was a YLS alum. The name has not come up since.)
An email was sent to all students this morning strongly urging a demonstration of waterboarding, to establish our position against Mukasey's nomination, his apparent support of torture, and disregard for the rule of law (given that Congress has already passed statutes banning torture, Mukasey's assurances that the executive would be bound by a law outlawing waterboarding rather miss the point). And professors have suggested Chuck Schumer is a fool for continuing to support the nomination, and they continue to disagree with each other.
One wonders whether Schumer's daughter, Jess (who, by the way, is pretty much the opposite of stand-offish), is going to be taking classes offered by Balkin here (he isn't teaching any first semester classes).
As for me, I wish we would stop alienating our famous alum. Mukasey isn't really supporting torture, he's just playing a balancing act between supporting the administration and pacifying the senate committee. And Justice Thomas won't even let us put up his portrait in the law school, though he been has asked several times. Justice Alito can't be too fond of certain YLS profs, either.
I haven't felt alienated here because of conservative viewpoints, but it's little surprise that Yale is accruing an anti-conservative (rather than just a liberal) reputation.
Mukasey nomination sparks debate at alma mater Yale
(Interestingly, the article says Koh did not respond to requests for comment. When Mukasey was first nominated, he spoke praisingly of him to his class and mentioned specifically Mukasey was a YLS alum. The name has not come up since.)
An email was sent to all students this morning strongly urging a demonstration of waterboarding, to establish our position against Mukasey's nomination, his apparent support of torture, and disregard for the rule of law (given that Congress has already passed statutes banning torture, Mukasey's assurances that the executive would be bound by a law outlawing waterboarding rather miss the point). And professors have suggested Chuck Schumer is a fool for continuing to support the nomination, and they continue to disagree with each other.
One wonders whether Schumer's daughter, Jess (who, by the way, is pretty much the opposite of stand-offish), is going to be taking classes offered by Balkin here (he isn't teaching any first semester classes).
As for me, I wish we would stop alienating our famous alum. Mukasey isn't really supporting torture, he's just playing a balancing act between supporting the administration and pacifying the senate committee. And Justice Thomas won't even let us put up his portrait in the law school, though he been has asked several times. Justice Alito can't be too fond of certain YLS profs, either.
I haven't felt alienated here because of conservative viewpoints, but it's little surprise that Yale is accruing an anti-conservative (rather than just a liberal) reputation.
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