Top Tier Law Schools Have Problems Too
Look on the bright side, Loyola 2L. Maybe you don't have a post-graduation job lined up yet. But law students at your crosstown competition have their own challenges to deal with.
UCLA is a Tier One law school, per U.S. News & World Report (even if not a so-called "T14" school, as they like to say on the internets). But is trouble brewing in paradise?
More after the jump.
This email went out to the entire UCLA Law student body last month:
From: Cheadle, Elizabeth
Subject: An important reminder
To: Class of 2008, Class of 2009, Class of 2010Dear Students,
Once upon a time, not so long ago (you weren't here, but I was), the law school had a terrible rodent problem. We're talking rats leaping off filing cabinets in student organization offices, scurrying down the hallway in the middle of the day, and prowling the stacks of the libraries. This was especially a problem in the library, where there are lots of places for rodents to hide, and where valuable library resources appear to small four-legged creatures to be simply an additional food source or hiding place.
Months and many thousands of dollars later, we finally got rid of all the critters, but it was a creepy period of time in the life of this lovely and homey building. That is why the library has such a strong anti-food policy, which they tell me they are currently having trouble enforcing because you guys don't fully understand all the bad consequences that can flow if you leave crumbs around. The ants have now arrived and the rats will follow shortly if we don't nip this in the bud. Facilities can't clean fast enough and the guards can't always be on potato chip patrol. Please, dear students, it's important to be careful about food everywhere, but I ask that you especially and strictly adhere to the library's "no food" policy. Save the calories for mealtime.
Oh, and please pay attention to the large "no smoking" signs around Shapiro Courtyard, too. Smoke lingers in the air; this is California, and we don't even smoke outside.
End of public service reminder(s). Happy studying.
Elizabeth A. Cheadle
Dean of Students, UCLA School of Law
Non-resident tuition and fees at UCLA amount to $38K a year. You'd think they could afford an exterminator for that kind of money.
What kind of cut-rate operation are they running out there? The law school equivalent of DOJ Day Care?
(68) Comments
If nothing else, L2L has achieved immortality on the interwebs.
"Smoke lingers in the air; this is California..."
So glad I don't live on the Left Coast.
Rats leaping from cabinets? Yikes!
Still, I like the tone of this letter. Seems like a good dean.
"The ants have now arrived and the rats will follow shortly. . ."
And after the rats and ants, Technoviking.
http://www.break.com/knockedupdvd/all-hail-technoviking.html
i hope this dean does not compose all of her emails this way. i can see it getting pretty annoying. much like it would be annoying to work at quinn emmanuel due to a certain someone's email writing style.
"Smoke lingers in the air; this is California, and we don't even smoke outside."
sounds horrible and paternalistic.
Sounds like accidentally sent out her "sequel to 28 weeks later" script to the whole school.
I'm an unabashed fan of Dean Cheadle. She was a good administrator and generally had a sense of humor (except when someone wrote "Ave, Cheadle! Morituri te salutant!" on the chalkboard before finals). At least when I was there, she rarely composed any emails.
The no-smoking policy did bug me, however. Especially during dead week when all the closet smokers would come out of the woodwork and beg for a cig before I could even get my backpack on.
What a tool--reminds me of our washed-up "senior dean of administration" whose career has been degraded (by his own choice) to telling people they can't drink cokes in the lecture halls.
UCLA may be a top-tier school, but those in the bottom half of their class have a tough time getting jobs. Top 10 or nothing.
This dean seems very likable.
They're hiking resident tuition to > $31k next year. For that price, I feel like I can sneak a couple of jujubees in the library.
AND you have to live in westwood...i prefer south central...FIGHT ON!
Actually, I don't see why she would have been upset at "Morituri te salutant." Seems a fun poke at law school exams. Is there context that I am missing?
I'd take USC over UCLA any day. You have a better chance at a good job out of USC because there is less competition and the Trojan family works well.
I'd rather be in a school with a rat problem than a job problem.
If I remember correctly, when I was at HLS, they had cards at the library desks basically saying the same thing about food & rats.
awesome
All of Cheadle's emails are in this annoying tone. She actually refers to herself as our "lawschool mom." She even sent out an email last year promoting her son's band which was playing at some sh*t hole venue in LA that weekend. So annoying...
Another example of Cheadle's email exploits, with the subject line "why grades are late":
The vast majority of the faculty were very timely in meeting their deadlines, so please don't blame them or spin conspiracy theories about the reasons for the delays!
I hope your summers are going fabulously. We miss you a lot, really, and are working hard to get ready for next year.
Best,
Elizabeth A. Cheadle
Dean of Students, UCLA School of Law
Personally, I prefer Don Cheadle
Everyone seems to have an obsession with getting a good job and very little interest in living happy lives.
Does anyone know if the school's ranking went up because it spent a bunch of money on its library?
tina chair--
that's because its not possible to live a happy life when you are living in debtor's prison.
Hahaha! What an idiot! She trashed her own school! Well at least now students applying to law schools will know that UCLA Law, especially the library, is a dump!
Dude, how bad is the problem? I thought UCLA was in a nice area of Los Angeles. Is the law school located downtown or something?
Are we talking cute, little, nice rats or big, chunky sewer rats here?
Tina Chair,
Work hard at a big firm for a few years, socking away a good amount of money, then switching to a smaller firm, going inhouse, or working for the government, is not so bad.
Absolutely no evidence of actual ants or rats in the library, so the new policy is irritating. On the other hand, it's not actually enforced any more strictly than it was before.
Those emails promoting her son's band last year were pretty obnoxious.
HAHAHAHA!!!
That email was priceless I'm surprised it didn't get leaked to ATL sooner.
I haven't seen ants or rats since I've been at the school (I'm a 3L).
first come the ants, then the rats, then the mountain lions, and then the nazis
What the hell is up with T14? Who makes a Top 14 list?
To the USC troll, don't be ridiculous. Nobody chooses that overpriced toilet over UCLA. Outside Cali no one has even heard of it. In Cali, UCLA is still the superior school.
I'm getting my law school apps together now, as are a number of my friends, and we all feel the same way.
11:11-
enjoy loyola when your a$$ gets rejected by fucla.
Dean Cheadle is good people. I thought the email was funny.
To USC troll, I'd rather go to Loyola than USC.
The one thing that every USC student has in common is a UCLA ding. Nobody wants to pay more $$ for a shittier school.
go back to your applications, tisk tisk, you're not even admitted yet!
You're right! If I mess this up I may end up at USC!!!
Tina Chair, law students are obsessed with getting good jobs because we have to take out so much debt just to attend law school. I'm not going to school for 7 years just to end up destitute, living in my parents' basement, turning over my entire salary to sallie fucking mae.
UCLA has the nicest library of any law school I have visited -- sounds like they just want to keep it that way. I didn't see any critters running around on my visit, but you can't blame Ms. Cheadle for trying to keep it clean.
Don't know if this has hit ATL yet, but I received some marketing material from Latham that said clerkship bonuses will be 50k for 2008. Wasn't that a sore subject for some posters a while back?
ucla is a TTT
hot damn. First!
UCLA has perhaps the most attractive student body in the top 25. Eat it, "T14" scrubs!
@12:46: except for Vandy.
12:03 is a TTT
1:24 is a 1:24.
Do they still have that God-awful mural of the naked dude in there? I went in there a few times as an undergrad and IMHO, that thing was more horrifying than a rodent infestation.
Rats are gross, but a $50,000 job with $150,000 of debt is much grosser.
the trojan - bruin bickering made my night .. which up to this point was full of nothing but UCC and fed courts.
GO TROJANS!
ucla rats to 190k!
notre dame to 0-11!
dont taze me bro!
UCLA to naked mural of Don Cheadle!
It's well-known in SoCal that there is an infestation of rats in West L.A., particulary in Beverly Hills and Westwood, where UCLA is located. The UCLA campus is quite beautiful, not at all what you would think of a SoCal school, and the law library, recently renovated, is simply one of the nicest in the country. I imagine they are trying to keep it that way.
Ratatouille! The food at UCLA must be delicious!
Why doesn't UCLA do what the ancient Egyptian librarians did -- bring a few cats into the library to control any vermin problem? They're cute, quiet, clean, and can offer a welcome study break to stressed-out law students. And they'll ruthlessly kill any rats or mice who might otherwise make a mess of things.
It's so aggravating having some glutton chomping down on food when you're trying to study in the library. If we wanted to hear wet slapping sounds we'd watch the porn; otherwise it's just gross.
Dean seems annoying. No food policies are nice though. At my school, people can eat whatever the hell they want in the library and it gets annoying. There's nothing worse then trying to get some reading done and having some d-bag pull up with a crunchy apple, crunchy peanuts, crunchy chips, etc. These things wouldn't be bad in a community area, but when you have a silent library, the sounds get loud and really take your attention off anything you are trying to read.
I think some law students are just getting overly sensitive. I can't see why anyone would possibly get annoyed by a dean trying to enforce (in a pleasant and informal tone) a no food policy in the library, which will make the library more comfortable for all students!
And to 9:48 who posted Cheadle's email about why grades were late, if you find THAT remotely offensive, you really should not be doing law.
Well they could exterminate the ants..... but then the insect rights activist might get mad :-)
10:58 - Use headphones or earplugs and chill a little. Geesh.
USC Blows Balls,
Both UCLA and USC have similar placement at big firms in LA. USC has less competition. Do the math.
Wait, wait, wait. Loyola 2L is in California, rather than Chicago? Oh no. Now I don't give a shit about Loyola 2L anymore.
Damn, and we were going to make an offer . . .
To USC BB,
I got into USC and UCLA. I chose USC. I now make $170,000. Fight on!
And we have a kick ass football team - see you December 1st.
Didn't anyone notice that Elizabeth Cheadle began her letter with the beginning of Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer"?
What's a USC? My friend at Latham said it's some kind of toilet in the ghetto. Why do people keep talking about this toilet?
USC's a decent choice as long as you plan on practicing in South Carolina.
Lame joke about South Carolina.
USC has similar placement at big firms...despit being much smaller. Guess it's true that it has a better faculty and better academic reputation, not to mention an obvious strength in alumni network and the disadvantage of being more expensive.