Academic

Early (and Recent) Harvard Law School Catalogs

Posted on October 26, 2008
And now for something fun?or at least a distraction from politics. David Warrington of Harvard?s Law Library has announced recently that the catalogs of the law school are now all scanned in and ready for viewing on the net. Because...

A Campaign Sign: Fetus with a Flag

Posted on October 26, 2008
Well, I know it's close to the election given the number of emails I've been getting about stories related to the election. I've said most of what I want to say about the election, because I told myself I was...

Obama Lawn Jockey?!

Posted on October 25, 2008
File under: this is a joke, right? As close readers of the blogosphere will recall, I've blogged about lawn jockeys a bunch in the past--about them as offensive, about their persistence in culture. Carl Christensen's blogged some about them, too,...

More Obama as President of the Harvard Law Review

Posted on October 25, 2008
Where does this stuff come from? First it was stories about then Harvard Law student Barack Obama's tenure as president of the Harvard Law Review. There was discussion that his issue of the review wasn't well-cited, which we discussed here....

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Of Clothing and "Caribou Barbie"

Posted on October 23, 2008
I am disgusted, but not terribly surprised, at the latest "news" story to pop up in the last few days: that Sarah Palin spent $150K of Republican money upgrading her wardrobe for the national stage. The mean-spirited glee and nasty...

Campus Listening Lines

Posted on October 22, 2008
Following up on a post about a suggestion that faculty be required to post their syllabi, so that the public can figure out what's being taught on colleges these days.... This all reminds me of an email I got back...

A Poll Primer: A Guide To Understanding The Different Pollsters

Posted on October 22, 2008
Nate Silver doles out some seriously useful information about the various tracking polls here. He gives some historical background for each of the pollsters, notes their party tilt, comments on particular quirks and strengths of their methods, and even tells...

Stone on the Nature of the Founders' Christianity

Posted on October 22, 2008
I have just learned that Geoffry R. Stone's Nimmer lecture, "The World of the Framers: A Christian Nation?", has appeared in the UCLA Law Review (thanks to a pointer from our friends at co-op). He makes the important--and I would...

Obama Supporters Get Tires Slashed

Posted on October 21, 2008
Stories about anti-Obama hostility keep piling up and I noted this one today in the Charlotte Observer: 30 people attending an Obama rally in Fayetteville, NC had their tires slashed on Sunday. I've been upset, but not surprised, by the...

More Nominations for the Ceausescu Prize

Posted on October 20, 2008
Today's nominees for the coveted Ceausescu Prize for amazing ignorance of or contempt for civil liberty are two cops from Searcy, Arkansas, who arrested a candidate for public office for displaying a sign that charged his opponents (one of whom...

In Memoriam Walter O. Weyrauch

Posted on October 20, 2008
I heard from Sanford Katz the sad news that long, long-time University of Florida faculty member Walter O. Weyrauch passed away this weekend. (The University of Florida's announcement is here.) Just recently the University of Florida hosted a symposium in...

Obama's Considerations for Judicial Appointments

Posted on October 20, 2008
I wrote this post last summer. Wish I'd posted it then, because I'd look really prescient. Instead, I look like I'm following the leader. Anyway, parts of it are more timely than ever--and other pieces of it look less timely....

Whose Property?

Posted on October 20, 2008
A staple of childhood is the ball (foot, base, basket, tennis, etc.) that indavertently lands in a crotchety neighbor's yard. Usually the kid retrieves it, and maybe gets yelled at by the sour inhabitant. But an 89 year old Ohio...

Slow Down in Hiring?

Posted on October 19, 2008
Like a lot of people in the academy, I've been mighty worried of late about the effect of the economy on schools. We never do really well and in tough economic times, we're hit particularly hard. So this news (also...

Christopher Buckley?s Fresh Hell

Posted on October 17, 2008
Despite my slow start, I am absolutely delighted to be a guest in the Faculty Lounge. Many thanks to Dan for inviting me. Christopher Buckley, son of William F. Buckley, Jr., caught hell after endorsing Sen. Barack Obama this past...

The Myth and Symbol School Rides Again

Posted on October 17, 2008
Oh, I wish I were in Albuquerque this weekend for the American Studies Association Conference. Because the discussion of "Joe the Plumber" has revived the myth and symbol wing of American Studies. Back in the 1950s, American Studies was a...

Tanenhaus on the O'Reilly Factor

Posted on October 16, 2008
Following close on the heels of his article on Slate about Bill Ayers, my friend David Tanenhaus of UNLV's law school was on the O'Reilly Factor on Tuesday. It's a rare accomplishment for a law professor to appear there--and an...

Team Obama: The Community Organizing Campaign

Posted on October 15, 2008
Many of us are addicted to the Presidential polls. Pollster.com and RealClearPolitics provide constant updates of both national and statewide canvasses. And then there's fivethirtyeight.com, which projects likely outcomes of the race. But from the point of view of an...

Mosteller from Duke to UNC

Posted on October 15, 2008
It hasn't been all that long since Dan Filler posted the last update to his 2007-08 lateral hires list. Already the 2008-09 hiring season is in full swing. It gives me enormous pleasure to kick off this year's announcements with...

So What If He Was?

Posted on October 14, 2008
McCain's gotten quite a bit of praise following his rallies of late for handling the absurd "Obama is an Arab" who pals around with "terrorist" comments from supporters. See video below. I'm not sure its so deserved. In response to...

The November 4 Surge: GOP Seeks Tough Poll Watchers

Posted on October 14, 2008
This from the Washington Post: The Wisconsin Republican Party has issued a call for volunteer poll watchers for Election Day, and the criteria is a little specific, seeking especially folks made of sterner stuff. Jonathan Waclawski, the party's election day...

Wisdom For The Ages

Posted on October 13, 2008
I am more concerned about the return of my money than the return on my money. -Mark Twain

Responding to Political Attack Ads

Posted on October 13, 2008
It is no surprise to students of persuasion that the attempt of the McCain/Palin campaign to attack Obama by focusing on his relationship with Ayers has been successful. As much as people decry negative politics, politicians go negative because it...

Why Negative Political Advertising is Here to Stay

Posted on October 13, 2008
Negative ads don't occur much in the commercial marketplace. When they do they are quite mild. But negative political ads that are brutal -- e.g., the famous daisy ad from 1964 -- are common and effective. Here's the explanation: commercial...

Emily Dickinson and Judge Otis Lord

Posted on October 12, 2008
I'm absurdly busy of late--worse than usual. Which means that my speculation on what the financial mess we've found ourselves in will mean for jurisprudence will have to wait. One hint of what I've been thinking about in my spare...

Sometimes, the captions, they just write themselves . . .

Posted on October 11, 2008

UT lifts ban on political signs in dorm windows

Posted on October 11, 2008
Two undergraduates at the University of Texas faced exclusion from spring course registration because they displayed political signs in their dormitory window. University officials told the students to remove the signs within 48 hours or they would face further disciplinary...

Same Sex Victory in Connecticut - A Real One!

Posted on October 10, 2008
Just got word that the Connecticut Supreme Court found an equal right to marry - yup, "marry," in the state constitution. Not civil unions. Marriage. Here's the short version from my good friend Dan Krisch, whose firm, Horton, Shields &...

Sex Discrimination Report at Rutgers

Posted on October 10, 2008
A faculty committee recently completed an internal report regarding the allegations of several women political science profs at Rutgers. The report documented significant pay disparities between male and female profs, sexual harassment and other forms of sex discrimination...

Tanenhaus' "Barack, Bill, and Me"

Posted on October 10, 2008
This morning's Slate brings an important essay, "Barack, Bill, and Me" from my friend David Tanenhaus of UNLV's law school. (You may recall David's op-ed in the Los Angeles Times in commemoration of Pat Tillman, which reminded us that the...

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