Law Schools, Screw-Ups, Technology

American University MacGate

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“Hello, I’m a Mac.”
“And I’m a PC. I may not be great at making newfangled new media graphics, but at least I won’t cost you extra when you’re taking law school exams at American University.”

Apparently American University is not the best place to go law school if you plan on using a Mac laptop. From a tipster:

My sister is a 2L and was told before she went to the school that a Macintosh would be compatible for test-taking. Turns out this is not the case and the students with Macs must either pay $200-300 to download the software to take exams or rent a non-Mac to take the exam. In essense, students with Macs must pay to take their exams.
This is an appalling situation as I am told that at least 1/3 of the students there have Macs. Also, when I called the Student Tech Support Analyst at the school and told them that I was a potential incoming student and was looking to buy a PC, they initially told me that as long as the Mac has XP, that exam taking would be fine.

Is this a huge injustice to Mac users, or should the Mac users just man up and pay, or take the exams on paper?
We’ve got a portion of an email exchange between an angry Mac student and a dean of the school after the jump to help you decide.


Angry Mac:

Thank you for your response to my inquiry regarding the exam situation
for Mac users. Thank you also for reminding me that I signed a waiver of
all my rights to complain about this issue back when I used a rented laptop
to take my exams last semester. First of all, I in fact DID receive
repeated assurances that purchasing a Mac would be fine for school and exam
purposes from more than one of your administrators. Secondly, I only have
one class in which exam soft will be used- clearly there is a way around
using a program that is only convenient for those people who do not use
Macs. Yes, I am aware that I may purchase the software to run Exam Soft on
my computer (which runs $200-$300) – i think that is still unfair and
unequal treatment considering that many many of the students here have
purchased Macs. I appreciate your attempts to use the same arcane methods
which we will be subjected to when we take the bar exam- i.e. If we don’t
like the system, then handwrite your exams!
I don’t think anyone who is used to working on a computer for note
taking and daily correspondence would voluntarily choose to handwrite their
law school exams, therefore, I think that option is rather insulting. I
have never contacted the administration before in order to complain about a
situation but I felt this was a recurring issue I needed to raise. I will
be talking with Dean Grossman about this issue as I want to communicate to
the administration that I am frustrated at how the school has been
dismissive of such an important issue (each semester I never know what the
situation will be taking our law school exams… will i have to
rent/purchase software/or will the school finally get it together) and that
this has left me disappointed with a school that I am otherwise satisfied
with. I will never contribute either money or good publicity for the school
after this situation and the dismissive reactions I have received. I would
like to focus on my upcoming exams now without scrambling to find a way to
either pay for software or arrange to use a computer I have never used
before. Thanks for this added headache in an already frustrating time.

Dean:

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I’m sorry for your headache and will leave you to your studies
following this communication.
Your sarcasm notwithstanding, I never said you waived your right to
complain, only that you acknowledged that the law school would no longer
sustain the costs for Mac users. This issue has caused a lot of angst among
administrators who have been struggling with it; notwithstanding your
contention, there is a difference between being “dismissive” and in
contemplating at length a matter before coming to a conclusion.
Second, the arcane methods you say I refer to are contrary to the
increasing number of jurisdictions utilizing exam software. They do so for
many of the same reasons we do, chief among them the security of an exam
that will be saved to a student’s laptop as well as backed up and not become
corrupt or lost at the end of an exam – something that has occurred with
regularity when students are on their own. Yes, there is also an element of
the honor code being set aside, but in that regard we are no different from
the 50 other law schools that reported working along the same principles as
we do.
Finally, while you are of course free to make the assertion, it seems
your promise of never giving to or speaking well of the school because of
this issue when you acknowledge that you have otherwise been satisfied is
misplaced. However, having served this law school for several years as
director of alumni relations prior to this position (a position in which I
think I have served the vast majority of students to their satisfaction), I
will come across students who believe a rationale like this is justified. I
wish you well with the balance of your time here and hope that future
policies, both here at the law school, and in the practicing world, do not
affect you as strongly as this apparently has.
By the way, none of your professors are using Examsoft this semester.
I am hopeful this will ease your headache.

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