Though consistently ranked at the top of the heap, UVA doesn’t cut it for some ambitious college students who want more than Mr. Jefferson’s manicured lawns, neoclassical architecture and renowned professors. So where can they go to get away from the whole “public school” feel of things? The law school, of course, and its crowning gem, the Arthur J. Morris Law Library.
If you go there at night, you can witness the stately stone columns of the portico-ed entrance, warmly lighted by comfortable, elegant hallways within. Stroll past the portraits of professors and alumni to the library, where oak-paneled walls, gold desk lamps and red leather seating wrap students in a cocoon of pretentiousness. Or climb to the next two levels, where art exhibits, study rooms, and rows upon rows of obscure books fill the enormous space.
There’s always room for more (except, we suppose, during finals), so find your own corner and cozy up with a book some time. If you look closely, you may just find undercover undergrads: A young English major pretending to decipher the intricacies of tort law while actually struggling with Econ 101 or a sorority girl scoping out cute litigators-to-be. So instead of letting the consternated stares and oppressive silence intimidate you, revel in the self-importance and be one with the law library.—Sara Tisdale
Date: December 6th, 2006 9:57 AM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
I almost wrote a letter to their editor, but it appears the article is a few weeks old. Still publishing that a few weeks before finals is irresponsible considering the law library can't even fit every law student if they chose to study there.
Date: December 6th, 2006 9:50 AM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
"There’s always room for more (except, we suppose, during finals), so find your own corner and cozy up with a book some time. If you look closely, you may just find undercover undergrads: A young English major pretending to decipher the intricacies of tort law while actually struggling with Econ 101 or a sorority girl scoping out cute litigators-to-be. So instead of letting the consternated stares and oppressive silence intimidate you, revel in the self-importance and be one with the law library."
First they send the circus, now the undergrads. It's official: UVA hates the law school.
Date: December 6th, 2006 9:52 AM Author: exhilarant cowardly boltzmann
Also, there was that letter to the Cav Daily from some Arts & Sciences grad student a week or so ago complaining about how Law and Darden suck resources from the rest of campus. It was very funny to see him get factpwn3d by three different letters to the editor.
Date: December 6th, 2006 10:01 AM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
This is in reply to the letter from Jason Hickel ("Impoverishing knowledge," Nov. 17, 2006), the anthropology student who accused the University of funneling tuition dollars from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences to the School of Law and Darden School of Business.
Had Hickel troubled to inform himself, he would have discovered that both Law and Darden are net contributors to the University's budget. The School of Law, where I am a student, operates under a financial self-sufficiency arrangement whereby the school retains 90 percent of its student tuition and remits 10 percent to the University for administrative functions or redistribution to other schools, including the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Last year, this contribution exceeded $3 million.
If the School of Law has money to spare, it is perhaps because it bills students more than $15,000 per semester, compared with the roughly $5,000 and $10,000, respectively, paid by in-state and out-of-state students in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. And if faculty salaries are higher and facilities more luxurious at Law and Darden as Hickel points out, it is perhaps because these programs face private sector competition for top talent and receive private sector contributions for their building projects.
Hickel claims that the English and anthropology departments "maintain a devotion to critical social thought in a rich tradition of constructive discontent," while Law and Darden "are churning out soldiers of the status quo."
Without addressing the eye popping ignorance of this statement, it is enough to say that if nurturing the liberal arts requires us to endure the arrogant rants of students who can't even be bothered to get their facts straight, I'm perfectly happy to see Hickel and his like strapped for cash.
Date: December 6th, 2006 10:02 AM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
When I read the Nov. 17 letter to editor, "Impoverishing Knowledge," (Nov. 17) by Jason Hickel I wondered if it was perhaps "opposite day" at The Cavalier Daily. The letter was striking for its misinformation -- and for having the facts backwards.
What the writer claims -- that the University's graduate schools of business and law are being subsidized by tuition from the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences -- is not only wrong, it is opposite to what occurs.The University retains 10 percent of tuition revenues from Darden and Law, a total of $6.2 million in 2006-07, and allocates it directly to the College.
As a result of the sustained aggressive support of its alumni and friends, as well as its tuition revenues, Law and Darden were able move to a financial self-sufficiency model several years ago.
In addition, due to the success of financial self-sufficiency at Law and Darden, others in the University community now benefit. Nearly all state general funds received by the University for base instructional and support costs, salary increases, deferred maintenance, and financial aid are allocated to the general revenues of the University -- to the exclusion of Darden and Law.
The writer, a graduate student in the College, owes a debt of gratitude to his colleagues at Law and Darden.
Date: December 6th, 2006 10:03 AM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
A recent letter to the editor fromimplied that the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences subsidizes the Law School (Jason Hickely "Impoverishing knowledge," Nov. 17,). That is not true. The Law School is financially self-sufficient and receives no subsidy from the University. On the contrary, the Law School pays all its own expenses and contributes 10 percent of tuition dollars to the University. These funds are available to defray the cost of University administration or to redistribute to other schools. This year, the Law School's contribute to the rest of the University will exceed $3 million.
Inadequate funding for the Graduate School of Ars & Sciences should be of concern to all, but the Law School is part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Date: December 6th, 2006 10:04 AM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
It shocked me to discover that the University's budgetary commitments exhibit such an skewed distribution of resources between its various graduate and professional-level programs. The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences actually receives less funding than the sum of its students' tuition. Where does the difference go? Straight to the professional schools -- business and law.
This arrangement effectively siphons money away from GSAS only to funnel it into the already-brimming coffers of the professional schools.
Budgets are always political -- and moral -- documents. They speak volumes about the priorities and convictions of an institution. In this case, it is clear that the University cares vastly more for its investments in the professional schools than it does in the sciences, arts and humanities.
One needn't look far for corroborating evidence. A quick comparison of faculty salaries by department will suffice, for example, or a tour through Darden's sumptuous, slate and mahogany-tiled corridors. This is hardly surprising, of course; the opulence of Darden and U.Va. Law makes for a fancy feather in the University's cap, an emblem of its growing prestige. But at what expense? While the English and Anthropology departments -- the two most poorly funded on Grounds -- maintain a devotion to critical social thought in a rich tradition of constructive discontent, our professional schools are churning out soldiers of the status quo.
And it is the latter enterprise around which the University's priorities are oriented, with the apparent goal of reducing itself to a trade school for the privileged elite.
Date: December 6th, 2006 11:40 AM Author: exhilarant cowardly boltzmann
"Having spent my life suspended between two quite disparate localities - Swaziland and the US - I have found in anthropology the conceptual tools with which to think critically about the complex field of power that exists between them, in which I have always been unwittingly entangled."
Proof positive that knowing how to write is not a prerequisite for grad programs.
Date: December 6th, 2006 9:57 AM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
Yes and no. Some people are too chicken shit to confront another student. Some of the other students won't leave when asked. There are little signs on all the desks that read "reserved for law students or those doing legal research"
Date: December 6th, 2006 6:38 PM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
I mean I guess you could. It really hasn't been a huge problem as far as I can tell. But there are definitely certain times of day when you can't find an open seat and you see someone obviously not studying the law. Kind of annoying more than anything else. Not really worth getting into a fight over.
Date: December 7th, 2006 5:36 PM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
What is it with this school and negativity? They make it sound like finals are the end of the world. The circus email is worded in a similar way. "Sadly the circus will be here all week." It's a circus! Be happy!
Date: December 6th, 2006 1:39 PM Author: Trip Prole Background Story
One of the few things cornell does right is they have some student go around after 5pm in the law library reading room, if they see someone reading non-law books they'll kick them out...some azn pre-med girl in front of me who was texting away on her phone got the boot yesterday right at 5...it was faaaaantastic
Date: December 6th, 2006 1:30 PM Author: Spectacular Slap-happy Yarmulke
titNcr, jeff scholars maybe (though every single one that I knew in college was a total douche) but echols/rodman is virtually nothing. there are hundreds out of every uva class--can't say that for T8 admits.
T8? silliness. If all of the echols people tried for T14 LS maybe this comparison would make sense. But the % of Echols who actually want to go to LS do really well - very strong representation in the T14.
that and if your HS has competent counselors. You have to be nominated by your HS for jeff, which means your HS has to know about it in the first place.
Date: December 6th, 2006 12:04 PM Author: lilac odious crackhouse
my attorney will talk about his "freshman" year in ls and his "senior" year in ls. But he went to ls before "One L" came out. So maybe that's how law students used to talk.
Date: December 6th, 2006 10:18 AM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
I don't know what you look like, but if I see you with a non law school book I'll skip around the library staff and club you over the head with my 1500 page evidence book myself if you take a spot near an outlet.
Date: December 6th, 2006 10:26 AM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
in that case your massive brain won't be bruised by my glancing blows. I heard Supreme Court clerks are so smart they have can use telepathy and telekenesis to move things with their mind and intimidate people.
Date: December 6th, 2006 11:36 AM Author: exhilarant cowardly boltzmann
AFAIK, the only security measure here is that you have to swipe an ID to get in the law school after 9 p.m., and anyone who's faculty, staff, or a student at UVA can do it.
Date: December 6th, 2006 12:02 PM Author: Indecent Walnut Parlor
I got kicked out of the Cornell law library once when I was in ugrad there. The librarian actually came up to me and gave me a note saying that if I didn't leave the campus police were going to escort me out. So I left.
I thought it was pretty unfair - I wasn't taking up an space (there were tons of empty desks all around me) and it was the last-ish days of finals, so fewer people were around. Also the rules were dumb - I could be there until 5, but not after, which seemed pretty arbitrary to me.
Date: December 6th, 2006 12:06 PM Author: lilac odious crackhouse
half the guys I knew in ls studied in the ugrad library. it was full of hot babes and relatively empty of stressed-out 1Ls. the rest studied at various starbucks.
Date: December 6th, 2006 12:23 PM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
On a completely unrelated note, does anyone know why all the little "reserved for law students" signs disappeared from every study space except the library?
Date: December 6th, 2006 1:46 PM Author: Fuchsia rough-skinned water buffalo depressive
I only study in the undergrad library. It is actually a lot nicer and more well lit. Plus, there are no stressed out law school douches complaining, and there are insanely hot chicks running around everywhere. And it is actually quiet.
Date: December 6th, 2006 3:12 PM Author: Contagious theatre
Why is it ok for law students to study in the ug library, but not for ugs to study in the law library? Is it because there are many more ugs than law students? Do b-school and med school libraries have similar rules to prevent overcrowding?
Date: December 6th, 2006 3:13 PM Author: Spectacular Slap-happy Yarmulke
it is because law exams are 100% of your grade and ug exams are 30%. it is because it is harder to get in to law school than to undergrad. it is because of seniority. it is because undergrads are sheep. HTFH
Date: December 6th, 2006 5:37 PM Author: Contagious theatre
I think it depends on the LS/UG. Like HLS is easier to get into than Harvard UG. I got into HLS but I'd never get into H UG. I'm ok at standardized tests and stuff but I'm not really talented or brilliant in any way.
Date: December 6th, 2006 3:42 PM Author: pearl soul-stirring digit ratio ticket booth
It does have to do at least partly with a space premium as well. And the idea that law students paid a shit ton more than you for the space you're currently occupying.
Date: December 6th, 2006 3:49 PM Author: exhilarant cowardly boltzmann
The undergrads who study in the law library tend to be a lot more noisy and distracting than other law students (and, for that matter, the people studying on the bottom floor of Clemons). The stereotype is that it's sorority girls there to meet future lawyers, and there's definitely more than a grain of truth to it.
I think part of the problem is that, as the posters have alluded above, the law school subsidizes the university (and thus we should be allowed to use the facilities) but the university as a whole doesn't give the law school anything money wise besides cutting the grass.
Date: December 6th, 2006 7:45 PM Author: Purple Persian Temple
Last year in the UVA Law library I saw one of those "Reserved for law students" cards had the "law" crossed out and handwritten "engineering" filled in. WTF? I mean they disrespect our rules enough to march in here, and then they mock the rules and think the whole thing is a joke?? Fucking illegals.
Date: December 6th, 2006 8:11 PM Author: Dashing School Preventive Strike
Trust me, I don't care. I could barely find a place to park, then couldn't find a place to sit this evening (not near an outlet). It's fucking ridiculous and rude.