My Last Semester: Round 1

School days, school days...  

The first week of spring semester 2006 is almost in the books. I have Tax I, Evidence, Criminal Process (CrimPro II), and two seminars: Death Penalty and Tax Policy. All in all, this week was not a bad start to my final semester as a legal-gargoyle in the Mondale dungeon.

My Tax professor is teaching the class for the first time, which could be good or bad. But he is most definitely a push-over. This is key, considering Tax is the first class of the day and I am not always punctual. (Ambular can attest to the love I repeatedly shower-on my snooze button.) He seems like an uber-nice guy, the kind of professor who will go out of his way to save a student from in-class embarrassment. I bet I could raise my hand and say “pink turtles taste like strawberries” and he would say something like “interesting point, but not exactly what I was looking for.”

My Evidence professor is the exact opposite. He looks like a TV lawyer, always in a shirt, tie, V-neck sweater, jeans, and tweed jacket. Peering over reading glasses, eyes set under a head of slivery-grey hair. Think a casual, but serious Sam Waterston.

While going-over the administrative details of the class, he drops a couple bombs on us. “If your cell phone rings during class I will drop your final grade down a level,” he pronounces. No problem, I always keep my phone on vibrate anyway. Actually I was glad he said it; I don’t think it is asking too much for people to be considerate with their cell phones.

Then he throws out, “Oh, and no internet either.”

What?! Come again?

“If I catch anyone staring-off into the nether-regions of the internet I reserve the right to make you stand-up, and cross-examine you about what you’re doing on the internet and what we are doing in class.”

As a third year law student, accessing the internet during class is like breathing. I’ve been checking my email, reading blogs, and avoiding boredom through the magic of internet since my first day of law school. Why would the powers-that-be install a wireless network if they didn’t want us to use it? I can’t think of a reason, and therefore I surf unapologetically.

Now I’ll have to resort to feigning attention and/or taking notes. This is going to be a long semester.