Academic

Welcome To Daniel Sokol

Posted on November 13, 2008
We're very pleased to welcome Daniel Sokol as a guest here at the Lounge. Danny is an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. He's a graduate of Amherst College and the University of Chicago law...

Moral Hazard Explained: Okamoto's Fine Grain Account Of Market Failure

Posted on November 13, 2008
We've heard a lot about moral hazard recently. The coarse account is that we should worry about bailing out risk-takers lest they come to rely on bailouts in their future risk calculations. But moral hazard can have a finer grain...

A Forgotten Holocaust Diary: Warsaw Ghetto By Mary Berg

Posted on November 13, 2008
Until recently, I was entirely unaware of the existence of Warsaw Ghetto, a novel by Mary Berg. Berg was raised in Poland and arrived in New York in March 1944 at nineteen. She was lucky: her mom was born in...

Blog Insurance: Protecting Against Defamation, Copyright, and Privacy Invasion

Posted on November 12, 2008
There's a new insurance product on the market and no, you needn't worry that it will single-handedly consume your 403(b) (or 401(k) for those of you employed by entitities that actually seek to earn a profit.) The Media Bloggers Association...

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Pleasant Grove v. Summum

Posted on November 12, 2008
The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in this case. In brief, the city of Pleasant Grove, Utah has accepted donations of various artifacts (only from local organizations) that are germane to the city's pioneer history for display in Pioneer...

The Poltics Of Prop 8: Race And Gay Marriage

Posted on November 11, 2008
Jasmyne A. Cannick has an interesting and provocative op-ed in the LA Times today entitled No-on-8's White Bias. Arguing from the perspective of an African-American lesbian, Cannick slams the No-on-8 campaign as completely out of touch with Black voters...

Final Election Numbers: Obama Beats Phillies In Presidential Race

Posted on November 11, 2008
I was taking a look at a comprehensive list of Presidential election results today and noted a variety of details about the less publicized aspects of the results. Among the big-name third party candidates, lefty retread Ralph Nader garnered a...

Indiana University's Renaming A Building

Posted on November 11, 2008
In the continuing saga that is the law and morality of building names (what I affectionately call monument law), the Chroncile of Higher Education brings news that Indiana University--Bloomington is recommending adding the name of its first African American basketball...

Obama Forecasting

Posted on November 10, 2008
I do not usually delve into the business of political advice or forecasting, as my expertise is constitutional law, not politics (though there is a great deal of overlap between politics and constitutional law -- some say constitutional law is...

Books to Watch For

Posted on November 10, 2008
Well, the spring 2009 catalogs have begun to arrive from university presses. I'm eagerly awaiting the Harvard University Press catalog, because it has a listing for a very exciting book of essays on legal history. No sign of it yet....

New York Times on University Financial Troubles

Posted on November 08, 2008
Well, these are tough times for us all, universities included, no doubt. We've already spoken a little bit about the slow down in hiring at universities. I think that the belt-tightening will include increased teaching loads and a higher student-faculty...

The End of the Reparations Movement?

Posted on November 07, 2008
Thanks to a pointer from Sally Greene--one of our nation's most thoughtful politicians--I see this op-ed piece by Walter Olson from the LA Times on the demise of the reparations movement. I have a lot of thoughts on this and...

California Prop 8 Aftermath: Strauss v. Horton, the State Court Challenge

Posted on November 06, 2008
Immediately after Californians approved Proposition 8, an initiative measure amending the state constitution to declare that only a marriage between a man and a woman "shall be valid or recognized" in California, opponents have filed a petition for writ of...

Flatt From University of Houston to UNC

Posted on November 06, 2008
I'm in DC for the AALS hiring conference--very much looking forward to meeting lots of people and making new friends, as well as seeing a bunch of old ones. (Had a wonderful drive up 95--the fall colors are out in...

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Posted on November 06, 2008
As we celebrate the victory that is President Barack Obama (yay!!!!), California, Arizona and Florida stand as sharp reminders of battles yet to be won. Here's the outcome of each state's proposal to ban gay marriage: Arizona: 56% - 44%...

I Know Why Maya Angelou Sings

Posted on November 06, 2008
Uniting both poetry and politics, Maya Angelou beautifully captures the thoughts of many in the wake of Tuesday's tremendous achievement.Watch CBS Videos Online

Yes We Did!

Posted on November 05, 2008

The Nate Silver Election Night Guide

Posted on November 04, 2008
Nate Silver, the creator of Fivethirtyeight.com (of spoof of which was the basis of my Blawg Review #184 yesterday) has created some must-read materials for anyone planning on watching election results tonight. He gives an hour by hour guide to...

Vote And Get Free Starbucks Coffee

Posted on November 04, 2008
VOTE. Go to Starbucks, tell them you voted, collect your tall coffee. Mostly also though, VOTE.

Colonel Ripley

Posted on November 04, 2008
As you go vote today, you might recall the life of Colonel John Ripley, who was a real-life Robert Jordan, the favorite literary figure of each of Barack Obama and John McCain. His heroism is more fully recounted in John...

More Monument Law: The Nathan Bedford Forrest School in Jacksonville

Posted on November 04, 2008
Thanks to a pointer from Ann Bartow, another laborer in the monument law vineyard, I learn this morning the Jacksonville, Florida School Board voted against changing the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest School (alumni website here). The school was named...

WTF? What's the Fuss? (About the F Word)

Posted on November 03, 2008
Warning: this post contains language that some people find indecent. I gather from the NYT Week in Review that the SCT will be hearing a case tomorrow about the FCC's indecency regulations (FCC v. Fox), in particular about whether the...

Blawg Review #184

Posted on November 03, 2008
__________ OneEightyFour Blawg Review Done Right Monday, November 3, 2008 The Obama Effect Continues Around law schools across the nation, there has been a detectable drop in faculty productivity over the past two months. In the immediate aftermath of the...

Wasilla's 32 Black Folks

Posted on October 31, 2008
Several years ago an acquaintance argued against the benefits of racial diversity in higher education because, in his view, an entering class of all White students admitted on the basis of "merit" alone could just as well "learn about race"...

Appreciating the Prose of Ted Nugent

Posted on October 31, 2008
Yes, you read that right. As a student (and teacher) of writing, I'm always on the lookout for prose that really gets you. Clear, clean, direct prose that is both simple but also profound, or funny, or even both. I...

Political Hallowween

Posted on October 31, 2008
Seen: W. 73rd St., Manhattan

American Prayer

Posted on October 29, 2008

What Happened to Rolling Stone's Format--And A Comment on David Foster Wallace

Posted on October 28, 2008
OK. So just in case anyone doubts the influence of studying the history of conservative thought AND property law, I've become (if I didn't start out life this way, which I probably did) an extremely tradition-bound individual. I don't like...

Which Way the Campaign Wind Blows

Posted on October 28, 2008
Yesterday I wrote about the concern that the biggest threat to academic freedom comes from sources outside academia, not from sources within. One example of the external pressure that may be brought to bear on academic institutions and individual academics...

A Warning for Academic Freedom?

Posted on October 27, 2008
Writing recently in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Roger Bowen proposes a Faustian Bargain for Academic Freedom: we should give up on tenure as the sole protector of academic freedom in favor of legislative or constitutional protections. Bowen writes: ?The...

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