But a healthy portion of you will be indoors, for reasons that have nothing to do with tree pollen. Yup — Tax Day. Federal tax returns are due Monday. (Just to add to the hassle, University employees have until Tuesday to submit their forms verifying that their dependents are indeed eligible to receive health insurance coverage.)
Now imagine that you had to file, say, 800 tax forms.
As the U.S. Supreme Court heard the first of two days of oral arguments on two cases involving same-sex marriage issues, you can bet that law professors around the country were following very closely.
On North Grounds, a quartet of U.Va. law professors weighed in on what they expect to happen. In this week of broken March Madness brackets, they were understandably loathe to predict what the court will rule — “It is extremely hazardous to bet on the outcomes of Supreme Court cases,” G. Edward White warned — but all four see the court moving toward acceptance of same-sex marriage in some degree.
Our colleagues over at the Law School have the story of “How a Law Student Changed UVA’s 170-Year-Old Honor System.” Of course, Frank Bellamy didn’t change it himself — he had to convince about 5,400 of his fellow students to agree with him in voting held two weeks ago.
Anyway, it’s a good read on how the second-year law student successfully pushed an alternative to the Honor Committee’s own, even more sweeping proposal to reform a system that has resisted most attempts at altering the heretofore sacrosanct “single sanction”: permanent expulsion for an act of lying, cheatiing or stealing. You can read more details in the Law School story, but the change that the students adopted introduces an “informed retraction” option — essentially, akin to a plea deal that allows a student to take responsibility for a dishonorable act after being accused but before a trial, and serve a two-semester suspension before being allowed to return.
We now know what the students think about the idea, but we’d like to know how the rest of the University community (faculty, staff, alumni, parents, concerned others) feels about the change. Does it strengthen or weaken the honor system? Is there a place in a “community of trust” for confession and forgiveness? Or is trust absolute — once broken, never recoverable?
Just from scanning through the recipes, I suspect that several of their dishes are about to become favorites in other families, too. (Personally, I’m thinking of taking on “Elizabeth Leverage Hilles’ Eggnog Marshmallows,” pictured at right.)
If there’s ever a day when they bring all of those goodies into work, I hope they remember their friendly neighborhood blogger …
It’s not every day that a law professor gets to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court, but U.Va.’s own Daniel Ortiz got that chance on Monday.
Arguing for the Law School‘s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic and representing an aggrieved cafeteria worker at Ball State University in Indiana, Ortiz’s arguments hinged on the question of who qualifies as a supervisor. The case, Vance v. Ball State University, drew national attention (Washington Post/New York Times).
Click here for the Law School’s story on how the arguments went.
U.Va. law professors and master rhetoricians Robert N. Sayler and Molly Bishop Schadel, authors of “Tongue-Tied America: Reviving the Art of Verbal Persuasion,” have posted their critique of the second presidential debate on their “Tongue-Tied America” blog. Their conclusion: “The second debate, rhetorically speaking, goes to the president.”
Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m., three area state legislators will gather at the U.Va. Law School’s Caplin Pavilion for an open forum on issues of university governance. According to the Facebook post announcing the event, Sen. Creigh Deeds and Dels. David Toscano and Steve Landes will “hear comments and answer questions about potential legislation” arising from June’s events.
Should faculty, students, staff members or anyone else have a voting seat on the Board of Visitors? Who should choose? Or is everything OK as it is? Which matters should the board be permitted to discuss in closed session? If board members have legitimate concerns about the performance of a university official, how should they proceed?
The doors open for the event at 5:30 p.m. If you cannot attend, but would like to submit comments, you can contact Sen. Deeds’ office at 434-296-5491 or district25@senate.virginia.gov or Del. Toscano’s office at 434-220-1660 or david@davidtoscano.com.
U.Va. law professors Molly Bishop Shadel and Robert Sayler, pictured at right, wrote the book on the art on oral argument. Really. Their book, “Tongue-Tied America: Reviving the Art of Verbal Persuasion,” earned them lots of attention about 18 months ago.
Now they’re using the lessons they taught in their book to analyze the run for the White House. In their blog, Tongue-Tied Applied, they’re busy critiquing some of the key addresses from the candidates and their surrogates, plus advertising.
According to a bee-yootiful post on the “Above the Law” blog, Slaughter Hall at the U.Va. Law School recently dealt with its own bee infestation. Not to be outdone by the Math Department, the Law School said it planned to sell the honey the bees left behind after their forced relocation (hmmmm, can they do that without compensating the bees? We need a property law expert), with the proceeds to benefit public service fellowships.
Kendra Wergin, a rising second-year UVA Law student, is interning at The Hague.
U.Va. law student Kendra Wergin is working this summer as an intern at the Hague with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Wergin talks about what it’s like to attend the trial of Ratko Mladić, the leader of the Bosnian Serb army accused of genocide and war crimes. Despite the difficult topic, she writes about what she is learning, from working with a survivor of the war to preparing evidence for the case. Read her “Postcard from Abroad” here.
Wergin said she is enjoying getting to know an international group of dedicated people also working at the Hague, as well as traveling.
“Despite our differences of ethnicity, nationality, religion, language and everything else,” Wergin writes, “we can still form friendships and appreciate each other. It’s an important reminder while prosecuting the people who waged war against their countrymen for precisely these differences.”
The 2012 presidential race is beginning to take shape, with the Republican nomination race becoming much clearer and the Obama-vs.-Romney battle lines already being drawn.
With that in mind, U.Va.’s renowned politics professor, Larry Sabato, is holding a public event tomorrow evening at 6:30 in the Wilson Hall auditorium to talk about the races for the White House and for seats on Capitol Hill. According to an event announcement, “That includes assessments of which way the important swing states in the Electoral College are leaning, which key factors and issues will decide the presidential race and which party has the edge to control the House and the Senate after November.”
If you’re looking for a different take, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson offered his thoughts on the presidential race last week at the Law School.’
They’re building some nice karma up on North Grounds — not to mention reinforcing community institutions and people’s homes.
Last weekend, the Law School‘s wildly popular softball league hosted its annual North Grounds Softball League Invitational, which drew 120 teams and approximately 1,800 players from 50 schools up and down the East Coast. The event raised $20,000 for Children, Youth and Family Services. In the end, U.Va. teams took home two titles. No word on whether any of the star players will be going professional.
Not to be outdone, students at the Darden School of Business are preparing for their annual spring charity event, Building Goodness in April. Teaming with Charlottesville’s Building Goodness Foundation, the Darden community plans to tackle 1o housing rehab projects on April 14. Here’s a video explaining it:
U.Va.’s Law School must be a pretty great place to hang out in as the holidays approach.
It’s not every day that a law professor gets to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court, but U.Va.’s own Daniel Ortiz got that chance on Monday.
