Bad Ideas, Law Schools, Ridiculousness

The 'Sectiongate' Scandal at HLS: It Gets Worse With Each 'Correction'

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We have a second correction to run in the unfolding “Sectiongate” saga at Harvard Law School. Normally running corrections makes us unhappy. But Sectiongate gets better with each subsequent correction.
Here’s the background. Last week we made fun of the dubious idea to use names rather than numbers to refer to the different 1L sections at Harvard Law School. The names would be “themed” — e.g., “porn stars, Care-Bears, and favorite sections of the MPC.”
After we put up our post, we received a correction:

[I]t’s not the HLS administration’s idea to do this; it is basically the idea of a single 1L. I was at the student government meeting in which this idea was first proposed, and it came from a 1L section representative. Because 1L participation is strongly encouraged, no one wanted to shoot him down (even though many people thought the idea was silly).

Our tipster was hoping to save HLS from looking ridiculous, by pinning the blame on a single 1L student. But the “correction” may have had the opposite effect. As one commenter observed:

This post doesn’t help HLS. Because one person made a patently absurd suggestion, they circulated a poll, knowing full well that the contents would end up on this site and others? They should have informed the 1L that the idea was ridiculous and made her transfer.

As it turns out, the truth is even better. We’ve now received another correction — which we’ve vetted with multiple HLS sources, so we are fairly sure this will be the final world. Here it is:

Actually, the proposal to name the sections did not originate with a 1L. It came from a 2L. This second-year student ran for student government on a platform that included naming the sections. And he won.

What this establishes is that (1) the silliness originated with someone who ought to know better (a 2L rather than a 1L), and (2) it actually enjoys broad public support among the HLS student body.
So we expect the section naming proposal to win handily in the current poll. And we can’t wait to find out what ridiculous naming scheme the Harvard Law kids saddle themselves with.
Earlier: HLSers Protest: Our Law School Is Not A Joke
Wherein Harvard Law School Hits Itself Over the Head With a Silly Stick

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