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1-26-1990
The Alledger volume 10, number 06The Alledger
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The Alledger
BCLS Capitalizes on Contributions By Mike Klein
"Capital idea, Tish." - Gomez Addams to Morticia Addams, The
Addams Family, circa 1966.
Boston College Law School embarked on a "capital" idea when it launched its first-ever Capital Campaign in June 1986. With a goal to raise $5 million over five years, BCLS's campaign is part of the $125 million Campaign for Boston College. - - - ---- -- -
The University actually began its campaign planning before the BCLS efforts got under way. Things changed after Dean Coquillette arrived in 1985. "The Law School never had a capital campaign before," Dean Coquillette explained. "If the school is going to get better, it must receive alumni support. A major source of outside income from alumni is a key to success in the top-ranked law schools.''
The $5 million is targeted to be divided into three areas: $1 . 7 million for endowed professor-
ecause DeanCoqu· semester of
Tb,e Deani; taking a re tember toNo\rember 199 . co:mp ete on Pierr Qissa11ce Ei:i.glish philosopher I? Bacon. The booifwill 6~ l)ublishedin Grea tainby the University ofE?3pburgh•Press in the UniteUStates by the Urtiv?rsity of Stanford Pres.s. Ill (;9quillette'sabsence, i\,ssoc~at~ Dean of Academic Affairs .Bob .Smith '.will.be acting Dean of the Lt1.w Schoot· .
As for his work with the;Capital Carnpaig11·\ Dean Coquillette says tha_t h.is. absence .. wonl ·• even be noticed. Marianne Lord, in charge of Major Gifts forthe Campaign, 1,ays thatthe Deai:i.' s sabbatical is. : 'perf e<;t timiil~- w.e need th;ne" to regroup anyway and followup on s9me of our W"Ork," Lord s · · D · · aVai as ed th fin:ie,] . be ava1 a 1
as oth.e / . Denoia FuncCsai Dean.have 0£ the C depfca ·
''A major source of outside income from alumni is a key to success in the topranked law schools.''
-Dean Coquillette
ships, research fellowships, and other research support; $1.5 million for construction and renovation; and $1.8 million for the Annual Fund, which supports ongoing programs, such as scholarships.
"From the point of view of the students, the second two components of the campaign are most visible," Dean Coquillette said. "The bulk of scholarship aid comes from the Annual Fund. By giving their donations on a yearly basis rather than as endowments, donors to the Annual Fund allow us to use their money in the most expendable fashion and give aid to more students," the Dean explained.
As for the "bricks and mortar" funding, one of its main targets is a new Career Planning and Placement center, which will occupy the first floor of the East Wing (the Barry Wing). The new facility will bet ter accommodate the more than 500 recruiters who come to campus, which is twice as many as were here five years ago. In addition to more interview rooms, plans include a special function room, a workshop room, and a seminar room (see diagram, first floor).
Space for the new placement center is available because the Fine ArLs Department, the current occupants of the East Wing, will be moving
to Devlin Hall, on the main campus. The Chemistry Department, Devlin Hall's current tenants, will soon have a new building of its own, construction of which has recently begun.
One flight up from the Placement Center will be a renovated second floor. Renovation plans include a Criminal Process Office, two large classrooms, a new-and-improved student lounge, and faculty offices (see diagram, second floor). "By putting the Placement Office and the student lounge right in the middle of the school, students should feel like they're in the center of things," the Dean said.
Other construction plans have been made for new offices for student organizations and for the library. The library is slated to receive more shelf space, renovated reading areas, additional individual carrels, and state-of-the-art computer workstations with access to LEXIS and WESTLAW.
The third component of the campaign - endowments - is aimed to facilitate the work of the faculty. "What teachers worry about most is research support," the Dean said. Endowments allow professors to take sabbaticals and to attend conferences, appearances which enhance the visibility of the law school.
The Capital Campaign is well on its way to completion, with about $3.1 million already raised. Sixty-seven donors have pledged "major" gifts ($100,000 or more), 13 of whom have already committed the funding. Before the campaign, BCLS had received only one donation of $100,000.
The Dean's main responsibility to the Campaign is to solicit these major gifts from donors who are targeted by the University Development Office. The Dean has already visited alumni in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. "From these trips I've learned that our graduates are doing very well and that they are very loyal to their law school," said the Dean. The Dean also makes about five to ten solicitation calls each month. Close to 35-40 percent of BCLS's alumni have contributed to the Campaign either through capital or annual contributions, which compares favorably to the 15-20 percent participation that most law school campaigns receive from their graduates.
Coordinating the Dean's trips and the entire campaign from behind the scenes are Deborah MacFail, Director of the Law School Fund, and Marianne Lord, who is in charge of Major Gifts. "Debbie starts from ground zero with the Annual Fund, and then we can target capital gifts from those already participating through the Annual Fund," said Lord.
Alumni also help to solicit contributions. The · Capital Campaign Committee .coordinates these
efforts. The committee consists of John Curtin, Jr. '57, Harold Hestnes '61, Paul Kane '70, Paul McNamara '65, David Perini '62 and R. Robert
See "Capital Campaign." Page 4
Page 2/The Alledger/January 26, 1990
ASK THE ALLEDGER By Mark Hoerrner
READER'S NOTE: IN THE LAST ISSUE OF THE ALLEDGER, I INCORRECTLY IDENTIFIED BILLY THE KID AS THE WILD WEST OUTLAW WHO ONCE SHOT A MAN FOR SNORING TOO LOUDLY. SINCE THAT TIME, AN AVID READER OF TIMELIFE BOOKS HAS INFORMED ME THAT THE ACTUAL WILD WEST OUTLAW WHO SHOT A MAN FOR SNORING TOO LOUDLY WAS 3L KEVIN MCCAUGHEY.
Question 1 DEAR ALLEDGER: The salad dressing in the cafeteria sucks. Why can't they get some yummy salad dressing, like Paul Newman's Own? J.F.M. IL
DEAR J.F.M.: Oddly enough, someone on the undergraduate campus has already requested that the cafeteria order Newman's Own salad dressing. Unfortunately, the employee in charge of placing the order was no rocket scientist and mistakenly ordered Alfred E. Neuman's Own salad dressing. Those in charge of the cafeteria deemed the disgusting goop that arrived in response to this order t oo vile to serve to patrons at the undergraduate cafeteria. Because they believe no fate too vile for law students, however, the Alfred E. Neuman's Salad Dressing has been sent to t his campus. So, good luck and good eating!
Question 2 DEAR ALLEDGER: Why are the articles printed in your publication always so untimely? I mean, there always seems to be at least a two week delay between an event and your report of that event. D.J.R. 3L
DEAR D.J.R.: I think you should be in awe, rather than contempt, of the fact that stories are printed within two weeks of an event! Unbeknownst to
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most students, all of the issues of the Al/edger are written and published during the summer, prior to th0 school year. The writ_ers base their stories on the predictions made in the 15th century by Nostradamos. Apparently, Nostradamos devoted a substantial part of his work to the occurances at the "Northeastern Legal University Where Slizewski Lectures." The fact that the events actually occur within two weeks of Nostradamos' prediction is really quite impressive. However, there is still one section of N ostradamos ' predictions for the upcoming year which we have yet to figure out. Anyone knowing the meaning of the following couplet please contact the Alledger:
In the year the pineapple-faced tyrant is apprehended,
A leader will rise up and, Pave spaces for motorized chariots over
Slizewski's Legal University And the leader's name shall be Bran Lotch.
Who is this Lotch of whom N ostradamos speaks?
Question 3 DEAR ALLEDGER: I have been reading the graffiti iri the men 's room located beneath the Library, and I have one question: why do those people always pick on George Malley? E.B .W. I L
DEAR E.B.W.: Hey, they're just jealous! Three-L George Malley is, in actuality, the crown prince of Monaco and heir to the throne of Prince Ranier. Prince George is attending law school here incognito in order to learn something about the "real people" of America. Unfortunately, George's real identity became known to a few small-minded and bitter individuals who vent their jealousy of him by slandering his good and royal name on the men's room walls. In response, Prince Ranier has sentenced those responsible for slandering his son to death by royal fiat. You wicked slanderers should watch your step in Monaco.
LOOK-A-LIKES
Raisa Gorbachev
Reader's Choice: Actor Keith Szarabajka
Question 4 DEAR ALLEDGER: What revelations are contained in Pete Rose 's new book? T.P. 2L
DEAR T.P.: I'm glad you asked that question because the book is currently causing a big stir among this year's third-year class! Apparently, Pete Rose attempts to vindicate his reputation and gain readmission to baseball by blaming all his gambling activity on 3L Steve Roses in the book 's final chapter, "It Wasn't Rose, It Was Roses." Roses has responded to Rose by authoring his own book in which he alleges that Pete Rose wears women's clothing. Baseball has not seen such a scandal since the 1919 Black Sox threw the World Series. Let's hope the game can survive.
Steve Roses With His Latest Tome
Cynthia Lichtenstein
Professor Mark Spiegel ·
Bachelor of the Bi-Week A Special Feature by Dennis McKenna
EDITOR'S NOTE: Although, as editors, we have broad discretion to control the content of the newspaper, we cannot in good conscience exercise that discretion to silence those whose opinions we find personally objectionable. Living in a free society entails occasionally having to tolerate expressions of opinion that we don't like, whether by reason of its unfairness to a particular person or group, or, as here, by the. fact that it is just not very funny. This, alas, is one of those times.
Ladies, it's back. At your request after a semester of lonely nights, the A II edger is proud to publish for your viewing pleasure, the Bachelor of the Bi-Week.
This week's bachelor hails from Cambridge, Mass. You have seen this coveted bachelor waddle down the hall and have thought to yourself, "is this load for real?" Well, just in time for Valentine's Day and the Dean's Prom, the Alledger presents this week's bachelor, Timothy R. Flaherty. (The "R" stands for ravishing.)
Tim will be quite a catch for some lovely young law student. He is quite the conversationalist. A normal discussion can touch upon any one of a wide range of his favorite topics, e.g., Tim himself, sports, drinking, and ·Tim's College Days.
Ladies, Tim can be seen at any one of his hangouts, including the Sports Complex (or, as Tim calls it, the "Sex-Plex" ), "M.A.'s (Mary Ann's Bar to you non-B.C. types), the library lobby, the candy machines in the snack bar, and his office (last stall of the basement men's room). Places from which Tim tends to shy away include any classroom (before noon), the law review offices, and the inside of the library.
After last year's unsuccessful bid for L.S.A. president, Tim rededicated himself to the basic things that he believes will
"Tim addresses his people."
bring him lasting happiness: food, drink, and himself, though not necessarily in that
· order. But do not fear, because Tim always has time for a little caring and sharing with you. Tim himself announced last semester in Criminal Procedure that he was a man of the '90's. There was some confusion about what he meant by this which we will try to clear up. Tim actually mea·nt the 1890's. Tim's idea of a two-way relationship can best be described by reference to his oft-
. repeated motto: "It's my way or the highway for you, lover!"
No prisoner of conventional wisdom, Tim scoffs at the prevailing belief that one needs a car or at least the prospect of steady employment to be a successful ladies man.
Tim adheres to the philosophy that if you can't say something nice about someone, there's always the restroom wall.
Ladies, Spring is here and Tim will not be around much longer. A check with Tim's social coordinator, George Malley, has confirmed that Tim is available for the Dean's Prom as well as other dates. on your talendar. Do not wait another moment wondering whether Tim could be Mr. Right. Tim is the real thing and he will take care of all your needs. Tim is ready for you. The question remains: are you ready for Tim?
BAR REVIEW
The Alledger/January 26, _1990/Page 3
Women's Bar Group . Examines Parental Leave
The Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts announced the results of its survey of 214 Massachusetts law firms and legal employers to discover theµ- policies relating to maternity and parental leave.
Of the ninety-five employers who responded, 85 offices indicated that they had policies for parental or maternal leave in place. Twelve firms had no policy at all.
The survey, conducted under the direction of attorneys Anne L. Josephson and Lila Heideman of the Women's Bar Association's Family and Career Issues Committee, showed that there were widely varying practices among law firms and other private sector employers regarding the length of leave time permitted and whether or not a salary is paid during leave.
According to the report, the increase in responses and benefits is significantly higher than in 1982 when the Women's Bar Association sent out a similar survey.
State employers also responded to the survey. A full-time state employee is currently entitled to an unpaid maternity leave up to eight weeks. An employee may use sick leave credits to get paid for the leave and in some instances may use accrued sick leave to extend benefits. Rights to vacation, time advancement, seniority, and step rate salary increases are protected.
Fifty-three percent of the employers surveyed also permit part-time work for attorneys, although six of those permitting part-time work admit that part-time work delays eligibility for partnership.
Statistics show that the United States is far behind other industrialized countries in the provision of maternity leave. More than one hundred countries have national legislation that guarantees women on leave due to pregnancy or the birth of a child the right to leave their job for a specified period of time, a cash benefit and job protection.
New Englnnd's Largest Bar Review is Still Growing!
Last year more students than ever chose New England's most experienced bar review course. The reasons are clear:
1. More Practice SMH students perlorm better because they spend significant portions of their preparation time practicing on sample questions. SMH includes over 2000 practice questions in its program, and spends over 18 hours of class time reviewing hundreds of those questions.
2. Thorough Texts SMH students perlorm better because the SMH texts are easy to read and understandable. The law is explained in complete sentences and paragraphs, the way the bar examiners expect you to write.
3. Better Teachers SMH students perlorm better
- because our Professors and Lecturers are experts at teaching. They do more than review the law, they explain it.
Contact your campus rep or call Danielle at 666-8700.
GET THE SMH EDGE
Page 4/The Alledger/January 26, 1990
Capital Campaign continued from Page 1
Popeo '61. Curtin, as chairman of the committee, has been willing to take time from his duties as president-elect of the American Bar Association (he takes office in August). McNamara personified the dedication that alumni have shown when he spent his sabbatical from his law practice last year to work full-time for the Campaign, specializing in the area of "special" gifts ($25,000-$99 ,000).
Other alumni have also been generous with their time. About 25 Boston-area alumni work with McNamara to encourage fellow alums to contribute special gifts. Stephen Fogg '75 is chairman of the Annual Fund, and Rachel Rivlin '77 heads the Alumni Telethon Committee, which identifies and coordinates alumni who handle the phones during the telethons. -
Despite requests for specific amounts of money, MacFail does not want alumni to feel that smaller gifts are not appreciated. "All gifts are important, no matter how mµch they are," she said. Lord said that alumni have been eager to contribute: "I don't recall having heard 'no.' If they can't contribute a capital donation, they have at least contributed to the Annual Fund."
The campaign will end in December 1991, with contributions coming in until 1996 (pledges are for five-year periods). "There's no question that we'll meet our goal," Lord said.
''This has been a moving experience for me,'' said the Dean. "The response of our graduates is surprising to me. We're a young school and most of our graduates are very young, so the generosity of our alumni says a lot about the identity they have with the school," the Dean said.
KEY FIRST FLOOR
1. Placement Interview Rooms 2. Seminar Room 3. Placement File Room 4. Special Function Room 5. Placement Reception Area 6. Placement Office 7. Restroom 8. Main Entrance 9. Placement Resource Room
10. Lecture Hall
SECOND FLOOR a. Faculty Offices b. Seminar Rooms c. Student Lounge d. Large Classrooms e. Medium Classroom f. Criminal Process Offices g. Restrooms h. First-Floor Lecture Hall
SUMMER LAW STUDY-
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Dublin London Mexico Oxford Paris
Russia-Poland San Diego
Foreign Law Programs Univ. of San Diego School of Law Alcala Park, San Diego CA 92110
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Law School's Plans For the Barry Wing t
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Mead Offers LR W Prizes By Bob Daniszewski
Mead Data Central, Inc., the folks who brought you Lexis, have found a way to take some of the sting out of Legal Research and Writing. They are sponsoring an award of $500 to the LRW student who shows the most progress during the semester.
Current 2L Maureen Pavely is the first recipient of Mead's award. She has been rewarded for her advocacy memo. Pavely's LRW instructor last fall was Professor Francine Sherman.
Mead, which is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, plans to sponsor the award on an annual basis.
Dean of Students Lisa DiLuna said that Mead brought the idea for the award to the law school, but let the school decide how to implement it.
DiLuna, LRW instructor Jane Gionfriddo, and Dean of Academic Affairs Robert Smith worked out the criteria for the award. DiLuna said that the award will be given each year to a student who both shows progressive improvement on successive LRW assignments, and whose final memo is an outstanding work product. In this way, she said, the school and Mead seek to recognize educational effort as well as overall accomplishment. The criteria selected will also permit LRW instructors, who will need to identify and select from potential recipients, to integrate anecdotal information
A
,~ 1 :f\~ Maureen Pavely
about each sLuJtnL·s efforts, DiLuna said. Paley says she was thrilled to learn that her
efforts last year paid off in economic as well as academic ways. "This should give encouragement to this year's lL's who are writing their memos now," she said.
The $500 award has been credited to Pavely's student account.
'l 'he Alledger/January 26, 1990/Page 5
COMMENTARY FLEXING MUZZLES: Free Speech
On Calllpus Is Being Attacked by the Left By Nat Hentoff
EDITOR'S NOTE- The Alledger ordinarily does not reprint articles that have already appeared in other publications. The following article, however, deals with an issue of sufficient importance to justify a departure from our usual practice. As always, we welcome your comments.
The ever-smiling Jerry Falwell, in closing down the Moral Majority, explained that its work had been accomplished- its values had become part of the American mainstream. He was right, in one respect. For years, the Moral Majority worked zealously to banish "bad speech," targeting "offensive" books in school libraries, as well as "socially harmful " magazines on newsstands.
Now, on American college campuses, there is a new, rapidly growing legion of decency that is also devoted to punishing bad speech. Its list of indefensible words is different from Falwell's. Expressions of racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-Semitism and prejudice against the handicapped are to be outlawed. But the basic principle is precisely that of Falwell: A decent society requires limits to free expression, and if that means diminishing the First Amendment, the will of the majority must rule.
Accordingly, on a number of prestigious campuses, a majority of students and faculty have concluded that censorship must be int egral to higher education. As Canetta Ivyone of the heads of student government at Stanford University- says, "We don't put as many restrictions on freedom of speech as we should."
A quarter of a century after the freespeech movement began at the University of California at Berkeley, helping fuel the antiwar and civil rights campaigns, some of the brightest of today's students are marching in the other direction.
This neoconservatism among liberals and radicals, blacks and feminists, and even a number of law professors, has its roots in the very real racism that does exist on a number of campuses. At Brown, for instance, fliers were distributed reading: "Things have been going downhill since the kitchen help moved into the classroom." At Smith, four black women received vicious racist letters. At Yale, the Afro-American Cultural Center's building was emblazoned with a WHITE POWER sign and a swastika.
In reaction, black students and many white students have joined to insist on the creat ion of codes not only of student conduct but also of student speech. Administrators, often enthusiastically, have yielded to those demands.
There are now various codes of forbidden speech at Emory University, the University of Wisconsin, the University of California, the University of Buffalo Law School and New York University Law School, among others.
The codes that have been adopted are not limited to epithets. On most campuses, a student can be disciplined- or even expelledfor words that create an intimidating, hostile or demeaning environment for educational
· ,. pursuits. Or a student may be put on trial for
"racist or discriminatory comment . .. or other expressive behavior directed at an individual" - if the speaker "intentionally" set out to "demean the race, sex or religion" of the aggrieved complainant (University of Wisconsin).
These thou-shalt-not-speak codes are so vague and broad that just a disagreement on such issues as affirmative action or an independent P alestinian state can lead to a verdict that a particularly vehement student is guilty of discriminat ory harassment against blacks or J ews.
Who will judge the defendants? Administ rators will, or a panel of administrators and students. And if they are ideologues and find the controversial political views of the defendant repellent, the student can miss a semester or more for being under the illu-
sion that the university is a place of free inquiry.
While the president of the universities of Michigan and Wisconsin, among others, have hailed these codes of prohibited speech, Donald Kennedy, president of Stanford, is resisting the notion that students are best taught to think for themsleves by being told what what they can't say. When you tell people they can't say, Kennedy has emphasized, they will begin to suppress what they think.
Already, in classrooms at some American colleges where language is monitored- as it is at Czechoslovakian and Chinese collegesthere are students afraid to explore certain lines of thought lest they be considered racist or sexist. At New York University Law School, for example, where heresy hunters abound in the student body, the atmosphere in some classes is like that of the old-time House Un-American Activities Committee. One student describes "a host of watchdog committees and a generally hostile . classroom reception regarding any student comment right of center."
At Stanford, the student organizations insistently demanding a code of forbidden language include the Asian Law Students Association, the Black Law Students Association, the Jewish Law Students Association and the Asian-American Students Association. From these groups and from NYU Law School will come some of the judges of the next decades, and maybe even a Supreme Court Justice or two.
The First Amendment is always fragilewitness the frenzy to amend the Bill of Rights after the Supreme Court ruled in June that the First Amendment protected flag burning. But with students at prestigious colleges now intent on limiting speech for a greater social good, the First Amendment will become even more vulnerable to attack in the years ahead.
But shouldn't there be some punishment of. especially hurtful, insulting, infuriating words? When he was mayor of Chicago, Harold Washington was asked to punish those responsible for inflammatory laguage that had gone out over a city radio station. According to his former press secretary, he refused, saying, "If I scratch one word, where do I stop?"
The current college codes began in response to crude racial and sexist scrawls. But now the language being scratched out extends to any words that create a hostile atmosphere or any language that " involves an express or implied threat to an individual's academic efforts" - whatever/ that may mean.
There is also a ' damaging effect of these protective regulations on the very people who are insisting they be safeguarged. Malcolm X used to talk about the need for young people to learn how language works, how to dissect it, how to use it as both a shield and a sword. Above all, he thought, blacks should not be fearful of language. They should not let it intimidate them but rather should fight back when words are used against them with more powerful words of their own.
If you read Malcolm X 's collected speeches and listen to his recordings, its clear t hat he was an extraordinarily resilient, resourceful, probing master of language. Can you imagine his asking to be protected from somebody else's- anybody else's- words?
For example, some years ago, I was lecturing at the University of Wisconsin when a fierce fight broke out over a student's exhibition of paintings in a university building. Feminists claimed his work was outrageously sexist and demanded that the paintings be removed. The administration gingerly upheld the artist and the very core of a university's reason for being: the right to freedom of expression. But under the university's new code of propriety , that exhibit ion would be scrapped as fast as you can "Edwin Meese."
Futhermore-and this is a poignant dimension to the rush to virtuous censorship-it won 't do a bit of good. Let us suppose these codes were in place on every campus.
Would racism go away? No, it would go underground, in the dark, where it's most comfortable.
The language on campus could become as pure as bottled water, but racist attitudes would still fester. The only way to deal with racism is to bring it out into the open-not suppress it.
One approach is to examine particular incidents on a particular campus and get people- and that includes blacks-to talk about their own racist attitudes. This approach won't work wonders, but, depending on the honesty and incisiveness of the faculty and the students leading these probes, whatever happens will be a lot more useful than squashing expression. And it may lead to specific, durable changes on campus, which will also be a lot more productive than quibbling over who created a hostile atmosphere and whether or not it was done intentionally.
But the way the lemmings- administrators as well as students-are going, the anti-freespeech movement may intimidate and harass students for some time to come. And it 's scary. As Lee Dembart-a former New York Times reporter who is now a student at Stanford Law School-said in the Times:
"It is distressing that the 'politically correct' view on campus these days seems to favor curtailment of speech. Oddly, defense of the First Amendment is now an antiprogressive view. Yes, speech is sometimes painful. Sometimes it is abusive. That is one of the prices of a free society. Unfortunately, this is a lesson that has to be learned over and over again. No victory endures.' '
Yet Dembart's views are held by only a besieged minority. The voice of the regulatory majority is that of Sharon Gwyn, a 1989 graduate of Stanford who wrote in The New York Times: ·
"As a black woman attending Stanford University, I feel that no one should be allowed to promote racially derogatory ideas on this campus."
And beginning with that simple preliminary statement, campuses are being caught in a web of such restrictions as these from Emory University:
Forbidden is "discriminatory harassment, " which "includes conduct (oral, written, graphic or physical) directed against any person or group of persons because of their race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, handicap or veteran's status and that has the purpose or reasonably foreseeable effect of creating an offensive, demeaning, intimidating or hostile environment for that person or group of persons.''
Anything you say can and will be used against you.
As an indication of the degree to which America's colleges have retreated from their reason for being, here is a section from the 1975 Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression at Yale (the celebrated C. Vann Woodward report):
" If expression may be prevented, censored or punished because of its content or the motives attributed to those who promote it, t hen it is no longer free. It will be subordinated to ot her values that we believe to be of lower priority in a university."
Yale has now reaffirmed the thrust of that report, but it is incomprehensible to too many colleges and universities.
Recently, friends of the First Amendment were given reason for hope when a Federal district court in Michigan struck down the University of Michigan's restrictions on student speech as unconstitutional. They are too vague and overboard, said Judge Avern Cohn, and therefore in violation of the First Amendment. The suit was brought by the A.C.L.U.
This is the first court decision on university suppression of speech, and since it is so clear it may influence other courts in other part s of the country t o remind colleges and universities that they are in the business of free thought , not regulated thought.
Reprinted with permission of Playboy Magazine.
Page 6/The Alledger/January 26, 1990
MOVIE REVIEW
By Kevin O'Leary
Ever since Jane Fonda visited Hanoi to protest the Vietnam War, a host of Hollywood's leading men have also tried to get into the picture. John Wayne portrayed a Green Beret. Marlon Brando portrayed a deranged soldier. Jim Brown fought in Vietnam, as did Gregory Hines and Matthew Modine. William Defoe and Chuck Norris have each starred in three Vietnam movies. Charlie Sheen went to Vietnam a decade after his father, Martin Sheen, returned from the war. If old men like Gene Hackman and Danny Glover could dig a few trenches, could Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox "just say no?" The Vietnam veteran has been portrayed by such diverse fellows as Tom Selleck, John Voigt, Mel Gibson and Bruce Willis. And who could forget the flexing pees of "Sly" Stallone or the raunchy humor of Robin Williams. Movie buffs may recall the performances of Robert DeNiro, Robert Duvall and Tom Berenger in their Vietrlam films, but does anyone remember Henry Winkler? Yes, even the Fonz made a Vietnam movie.
The 1990's begin with the opening of a new Vietnam film starril}g Tom Cruise. Born on the Fourth of July is director Oliver Stone's second Vietnam picture. It draws its story from the experiences of V~~tnam veteran Ron Kovic, who received wounds in Vietnam that paralyzed his lower body. Born on the Fourth of July is a chronicle of the emotional rehabilitation of a disabled veteran.
Kovic grew up in the small, sleepy town of Massapequa, New York. Raised in a patriotic, traditional, and very religious family, Kovic saw the conflicts in East Asia as his opportunity to fight for his country and its ideals. He enlists in the Marines because they "are the first to see the action." Through two tours of duty in Vietnam, Kovic begins to realize that the battle (though not the war) does not seem to have .much reason or glory. In one village, his troop accidentally wipes out a group of civilians. Soon thereafter, he is involved in another senseless tragedy that claims the life of a fellow soldier.
Kovic is later shot in the chest as he stands up in the middle of an Viet Cong ambush and fights in feverish fashion.
Disabled for the rest of his life, Kovic soon finds that his greatest pains are the emotional ones he faces when he returns to New York. As he must learn to accept the emotional problems linked to his disability, including sexual frustration, he also is troubled by the changing winds of American public opinion concerning the conflict in Vietnam. Kovic resented the antiwar protestors because he felt the war must be
. justified if his disability was to make sense'. Kovic eventually joins the protestors but not before he undergoes a painful, ugly journey that ends in an act of reconciliation.
The performance of Tom Cruise buoys this film. I doubt whether many other actors could have carried out the transformations in his character. Tom Cruise's polished trademarks -his wiseguy smirk and his high-pitched "yow" - are absent from this movie. Thank God for that. Reviewers have complimented Cruise on taking this "risky" role. While younger viewers may be turned off by this film (one Cruise fan wondered out loud if he would be cute as a long-haired yippee), his performance in this film and in Rainman ensure that Cruise will be around long after Rob Lowe and Emilio Estevez leave the screen.
It is a credit to Stone, Cruise and Kovic that the film does not portray Kovic as a saint. The film depicts a great deal of ugliness before Kovic's self-proclaimed r~demption. While Born on the Fourth of July is a good movie, it suffers from poor editing. Several of the segments of the film seem long and drawn out. The transition from novel to script presumably sacrifices some answers to questions the film raises such as how Kovic came to lead the demonstrations at the 1972 Republican Convention in Miami. The story of the disabled and disillusioned Vietnam veteran has been told before, but Born on the Fourth of July stands out as a story of rehabilitation and as a vehicle for several of the veterans involved in the picture to resolve their long held anger.
Wayne's Law School! By Mike Klein
[Scene: The garage of a rich 16-year-old secondyear law student. Enter stage left, Wayne. He's followed by Garth, his best friend, who is carrying a guitar.] Wayne: WAYNE'S LAW SCHOOL! WAYNE'S LAW SCHOOL! Hey, everybody, welcome to Wayne's Law School! Isn't this totally awesome? Garth: No way, dude. This is just totally bogus. Wayne: Bogus? Don't be heinous. My dad got me this law school so we could all save time from filling out those stupid applications. Garth: Hey man - your dad got you this law school because no school would accept us. Wayne: Giant snot balls to that - we're here to party! Wayne and Garth [together, while Garth strums guitar]: WAYNE'S PARTY! WAYNE'S PARTY! . Wayne: Let's get serious a minute here, Garth. It 's time for this week's review of the law. Garth: Like what's today's subject, dude? Wayne: Today we talk about ... family law. Garth: No way! Wayne: Way! Garth: Family law sucks. Marriage, divorce, custody of the kids - it's a '.'chick's" subject. Wayne: OK, dude, what do YOU want to review? Garth: Somethin' cool like .. . uh ... sports law! Wayne and Garth [together]: SPORTS LAW! SPORTS LAW! Wayne: So, like, what do we talk about? The threatened lockout by the Major League Baseball owners in the face of the expiration of the Major League collective bargaining agreement? The outrageous salaries being paid to baseball free agents? The dismantling of the National Football League Players Association? Garth: No way, man! I wanna talk about the upcoming Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue! Wayne: Outrageous, dude! Wayne and Garth [together, while Garth strums guitar]: SWIMSUITS! SWIMSUITS! Garth: That Elle MacPherson is totally righteous, man. She can jump to my league any day. Wayne: G 'day to that, dude. Wayne and Garth [together]: AUSTRALIAN BABES! AUSTRALIAN BABES! . Garth [singing, to the tune of Piano Man: Strap on a suit, you're an SI babe Strap on a suit real tight 'Cause we're all in the mood for your magazine Not checking for dumb Bluebook cites! Wayne: EXCELLENT! -t
0 ,, I % I Software for Legal Studies Garth: Party on! Wayne: Say, dude. That looks like all the time we have this week. Garth: Bum me out more than a 2-hour session of Legal Process! TM
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Moot Court Comes· to Order By Mike Klein
moot adj . .. 2. deprived of practical significance: made abstract or totally academic.
- Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
The 27th Annual Wendell F. Grimes Moot Court Competition is anything BUT moot after it got under way January 22nd when the Board of Student Advisors (BSA) distributed the hypothetical facts of the case of Tucker v. Richards.
Moot court has a written and an oral component. Teams consisting of two students each have about three weeks to research and write a brief on the case. A volunteer group of attorneys will score the briefs, which will represent one-third of each team's final score.
The emphasis of the competition is oral appellate advocacy. Beginning the week of February 26th, each team will go through four preliminary rounds of oral arguments before panels consisting of three judges. The judges are local attorneys, local judges, and members of the BCLS faculty. Eight teams will advance to the quarterfinals, with the finals taking place April 7th. "We'll have a blue-ribbon panel of judges for the finals,'' said Bob Daniszewski, the BSA's co-chairperson of the moot court competition. Two of those judges will be Judge Joseph Weis of the Third Circuit, and Edward Hennessey, the recently-retired chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Regardless of a competitor's success, all participar,ts in the Grimes Moot Court competition will be considered for the BCLS national moot court teams. These teams include the National Moot Court team, the National Administrative Law Moot Court team, and the Jessup International Moot Court team.
Daniszewski and Carol McGurk, the other cochairperson of the competition, devised the fact pattern that will be the subject of argument in the Grimes competition. The plaintiff is Alva Tucker, an eccentric entrepreneur who used to be a government contractor for "St ar Wars" technology. A changing political climate has put Tucker out of favor with the government, which has subsequently kept watch over Tucker and released confidential information to the public about him.
COMMENTARY By Bob Daniszewski
Recent events in Eastern Europe have proven that freedom is the most cherished of human values. The people of Poland, East Germany, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia have asked for, and to a significant degree received, greater political freedom in the last few weeks than they have known for decades.
These developments are occurring so quickly that it is difficult even to keep up, let alone to put them into a useful perspective. This may be the rare occasion on which the ridiculous expression "only time will tell" is truly appropriate.
For many in Eastern Europe, the principal concern is that the various reforms will lead to better economic conditions. That is certainly true in Poland, where the standard of living is more comparable to that of a third-world nation than it is to many of its European neighbors. East Germany and Czechoslovakia have fared comparatively well under Russian domination, although that is as much a function of their prewar history as anything that has happened under Communism.
Whether or not economic conditions improve as political reforms are implemented, life in Eastern Europe is better today than it was just a few months ago. This is confirmed by the wholesale expressions of joy they have eminated from the eastern bloc in recent days. Anyone who may be suffering anxiety over the generally sorry state of the planet, take heart: God is not dead; freedom is coming back to a large part of the world.
These developments should inspire us as Americans to reassess our values and to assist nations and peoples who choose to pursue them. The major question now is how best to help the people of Europe achieve successful results under a new democratic regime.
The initial challenge. alas , is military. Currently, the United States has some 325,000
Tucker brings a case against the government based on two premises. He claims that the Commonwealth, by following him, violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment (" the right of the people to be secure in their persons ... against unreasonable searches and seizures"), and that the release of confidential information infringed his right to privacy derived from the Fourteenth Amendment(" ... nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.").
The search for legal premises to be debated begin in September. "We had to find unresolved questions of law, preferably constitutional and civil," McGurk said. "We also needed more than one aspect of controversy since the teams have two members." By November, the question began to take shape.
Simultaneously, McGurk and Daniszewski began soliciting judges and to revise the rules of the competition. "It's more exciting now because everything has come together," Daniszewski said. "Now we're beginning to see a return for our effort."
The rule changes are designed to make the competition i:nore fair and meaningful. There will be more detailed criteria for scoring of oral arguments, a greater number of points allowed, and broader discretion for brief scorers to consider overall presentation. In another change. from past practice, the "best brief" award will now be available to any team, not just one of the eight quarterfinalists. If the 1990 field approaches last year's total of 35 teams, this revision should be an added incentive.
To assist all the teams this year and to strengthen the competition, the BSA depends on many volunteers. In addition to the scorers of the briefs and the judges, coaches for the teams will be available. Competitors from last year (minus members of the BSA and the national moot court teams) will help the tearris hone their advocacy skills.
" No matter what legal area t he people of t he compet ition ultimately get into, appellate advocacy applies to everybody," Daniszewski said. "At some point in their careers, they'll need to articulate the laws and advance a part icular point of view. The moot court competit_ion can help develop those skills.''
troops in West Germany. Many have complained for years that the mission of these young men and women is to stop bullets and provide traction for the thousands of enemy tanks should the Soviets decide someday to invade Western Europe.
However little deterrence NATO 's conventional forces currently provide, it stands to be reduced as a result of the recent disintegration of the Iron Curtain. America 's political influence has been on the wane throughout Western Europe for quite some time, nicely illustrated by the European anti-nuclear movement. Now, with the de-facto neutralization of the eastern bloc, there is far less of a reason to maintain a large troop presence in West Germany. Notwithstanding provincial fears over a reunified Germany, many on the continent will probably advocate a complete American withdrawal. There will be pressure domestically to reduce troop strength as an economic measure.
Some have estimated that U.S. forces in West Germany may be cut to as little as 100,000 by the mid-1990 's. Even assuming proportionate Soviet reductions, America will be taking a big chance that the Russian threat - and if ethnic unrest in the U.S.S.R. continues, it may truly become a Russian threat - is over.
I think that we should resist substantial force reductions in Europe for as long as possible. The situation in Eastern Europe is unsettled. Gorbachev's future is uncertain. And once removed, it may be difficult to redeploy our troops.
In the meantime, we should, for humanitarian as well as political reasons, do whatever we can to reinvigorate the Eastern European economy. The eastern bloc countries have suffered the consequences of World War II for longer than any other. Assuming continuing progress toward democracy, they are as deserving of a Marshall Plan today as Western Europe was in 1945. '
The changing face of Eastern Europe presents a whole nPw s!'t ()f problems for American foreign policy. But they are the kinds of problems we should alwavs be blessed to haw~.
The Alledger/January 26, 1990/Page 7
COMMENTARY By John Hayes
Pundits say Chuck Stuart 's hoax has reawakened rage in the African-American community, and uncovered lingering racial bigotry in the white community. Right. Carold and Christopher Stuart's murders were only • another example of the white press and white political leaders leaping on the murder of a white person by a person of color. We don't even need to limit this to urban violence. President Bush, in justifying the Panama invasion, seemed especially disgusted that "they" (read: Hispanics) has allegedly threatened "one of our women" with sexual abuse. The rage has always been present in the African-American community It's just the press decided to notice these phenomena now, probably as a way of expunging its own guilt.
What is most sad about the Stuart murder is that so few come out clean. There are few heros- the dispatcher who found them, the medical staff who fought to save Christopher's life. There are more bona fide victims- the DeMaitis family, the Stuart parents,and the citizens of Mission Hill who found their rights suspended.
Everyone else sucked. That Chuck Stuart is an evil monster has been said enough. What Chuck means is another matter. Murder, especially of one's wife, has become a rather casual occurrence these days, especially if the wife gets in the .way of important things, like money. Chuck was the expreme version of the yuppie- hellbent on greed, without any moral foundation. What he did was obscene-but the rationale isn't that unfamiliar. Everyone wanted to know, before, what about being raised in a poor, African-American neighborhood made a Willie Bennett blow away pregnant woman. Well, what is it that makes a suburban, white male kill his pregnant wife because she stood in the way of his financial plans? And what makes an entire group of family and friends forget t heir duty to society, and to the DeMaitis family, by not going to the police, even afte they knew that an innocent person would likely be put away.
It wasn't so unreasonable for the police and the mayor to give credence to Chuck's story in the days following the killings, or to have not discovered the truth earlier. After all, he had been critically wounded, and those persons with needed informa,tion were silent . But t he same night, an AfricanAmerican man was killed by a shotgun blast. There had been a spate of killings in that period. In none of those did the mayor order a massive manhunt. Nor did the police randomly swp African-American males in search of information, or pour huge resources in to those investigations. The names of those victims were quickly forgotten by the media. It has been said before, and is so clearly obvious, but it needs to be said again-the Stuart killings got so much attention because they were white, and "he" was allegedly black.
You've heard this .all before, right? Somebody 's got to be at fault. Even the leaders of the African-American community in boston want to blame someone- they point to Mayor Flynn. Unfortunately, they forgot that a majority of their community supported the extreme police tactics, including the random stops. More importantly, laying this on the media or on Mayor Flynn ignores the main point.
WE all bought Chuck's story. WE all found these deaths to be more tragic than the others that were occurring every day. WE all kept buying the Glove and the Herald, and watching the TV news, for more sensational tidbits , first about a black animal, now about a white madman.
Even those of US who might have questioned the police tactics, or the lack of media notice to other killings, found OURselves viscerally attracted to this particular crime. WE fed the outrage that caused the mayor to overreact, that caused the media to overindulge, that caused the police to overintrude. And by WE, I include African-Americans as well as whites-because the inherent racism that devalues certain lives permeats even into the devalued community itself. That racism, which WE don't want to recognize within ourselves, must be recognized and confronted before the massed tragedy of the Start murders can really be overcome.
Page S!The Alledger/January 26, 1990
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