This post is really too long. Isn't the idea of blogging that you can link to these articles rather than reproduce them?

before all the "who cares it's arkansas let's talk about NYC because that is all that matters" comments start...
1) this guy went to real schools, not TTT ones as i'm sure people will describe UALR as being; and
2) this could set some bad precedents for professors and the whole learning process in general is this dude is successful

12:51 is correct.

also, the site redesign is still annoying (and poorly done).

I have sympathy for the guy at Arkansas. A charge of racism can destroy your career. But suing your students? a bit overboard

As for Priya, I hope she is sterile so she cannot contaminate the world with her filth.

"I am also writing a book detailing my experiences as your instructor, which will "name names" so to speak. I have all of your evaluations and these will be reproduced in the book."

Aren't those evaluations supposed to be anonymous? That kind of chills accurate feedback. Plus she seems like kind of a headcase, judging by one of the evaluations posted in the linked blog.

DarTTTmouth should be ashamed they hired that person.

Priya=psycho

Dartmouth is a "bigoted place"? Jeez; never visit the southern 2/3 of the country, professor.

Priya needs to understand, ust because students think you're a bad teacher and don't respect you doesn't mean that they're racist.

It may just be you suck at teaching.

If Priya's "outside world" consists of people who think Dartmouth is a bigoted place, she must be a very isolated person even by the standards of your typical professor.

Hilarity should ensue: http://dartlog.net/2008/04/professor-to-sue-students-for.php

12:51 - It looks like this post got shortened / put after the jump.

It is still quicker to read this post than all the articles it links to.

http://www.dartblog.com/data/2008/04/007756.php

This link details the atrocities committed against her. Basically, they involve her envying better looking people and having an exaggerated sense of her own importance. Looks like she is now teaching at Pasedena City College.

1:16: thanks Lat. Now fix the stupid layout and "features" that are destroying the site's following..

Her subsequent e-mails suggest that the students she is suing are the class members in a class action. That's really novel - class action defendants?

Here's a pic of her=bitterness explained

Shocking that Lat cites to The Dartmouth Review as a source. They truly are a bastion of unbiased reporting, akin to Fox News.

http://thedartmouth.com/2008/04/28/news/classactionsuit/

What features do people have a problem with?

For me, the only annoying thing is that everybody is "guest." Sure you can sign your name at the bottom as something else, but being FORCED to do it on the old site brought out a lot of funny stuff.

Other than that, I'd say the site is fine, maybe better than before.

She's not the same professor that is teaching at Pasadena City College.

"WHOM shall go unmentioned"????

And she teaches WRITING????

Academics are funny because they think that people actually care about them, their reputations, or the crap they publish. Seriously, get some effing perspective. Your job is to teach outdated caselaw to a bunch of TTTers who have just made a terrible investment in higher education and publish pointless sophistry in journals edited by students. You really have to be delusional to take the negative comments so seriously that you sue for defamation.

It's shocking how often posters on this site use the word "shocking"

That Writing Professor sounds like pure joy as a teacher. I had a few like her in college...I never stuck around for day 2. They ooze their awfulness and are easy to spot.

To fail to use "whom" when appropriate is one thing (perhaps even forgivable). But to use it unnecessarily?

"Whom is a word invented to make everyone sound like a butler. Nobody who is not a butler has ever said it out loud without feeling just a little bit weird."
(Calvin Trillin)

What does that say about people who go out of their way to use it? You guessed it... butler wannabes.

http://www.ivygateblog.com/blog/2008/04/putting_the_class_in_class_action_also_the_attentionseeking_bookselling_passiveaggressive_trainwreck_in_professor.html

Never underestimate the damage that can be done by a little philosophy in the wrong hands.

Next time your father lets you out of the cellar 1:30 (1), he should keep you away from an internet cafe.

Check again 12:52. This guy went to W&L and Duke. Only in the South are those considered "real schools." He also practiced at V-V-V-V-V-V-V-Venable. Teaching at Arkansas seems a logical move.

Thank God for 12(b)(6).

Isn't there some sort of rule in Civil Procedure that says you need to try and negotiate first with the parties? Why is this yokel e-mailing her students?

There are no students of color on my law review either.

UALR is also the home of Robert Steinbuch, who is suing Jessica Cutler for blogging about their affair. Perhaps UALR professors like to participate in the legal system in addition to teaching about it.

The best part of the Peltz suit is that in order to make a claim of defamation, he'll have to argue that the is not a "public figure" (such that the students are entitled to some first amendment leeway to criticize). The funny thing is he'll have to argue that he is relatively unknown professor at a TTT. I don't think he'll be able to do it. Hence, he will shoot himself in the foot and the students will prevail. Hurrah!

1:42 - as they say in the south, "y'all come back now, ya hear"

"In her capacity as a lecturer for the Writing Program, Venkatesan recounted dealings with Dr. Cormen. One manner of incidents involved Dr. Cormen sitting in on Professor Venkatesan’s courses, during which time he allegedly repeatedly interrupted the class and would walk out of the class without acknowledgement or any sort of thanks. According to Venkatesan, Cormen was “consistently rude in that way.”"

Oh! How rude, indeed! Dartmouth's counsel, no doubt, already has a Rule 11 motion with the name of this self-important windbag's lawyer on it.

“I think that I have a good case because there were just so many instances – it was almost an incessant barrage – of hostility, nastiness and anti-intellectualism that I may just in fact have a case, but I’m not a lawyer,” Venkatesan said in an interview with The Dartmouth.

Some people are insufferable idiots, and then they enter the legal system and prove just that.

1:42--Perhaps you should do a bit more checking. Although Peltz may not have gone to Harvard or Yale, his CV is impressive. He is widely considered to be an expert on both First Amendment law and Freedom of Information law. He's no joke.

If any of you read the complaint and bother to find out the first thing about this case, you would see that (1) the students went far beyond merely expressing their opinions about Peltz and, in fact, have tried to have him fired for his views, (2) Peltz did not do what the complaint alleges, hence the claim for defamation, and (3) Peltz tried every other avenue before suing to get the school to reign in the students. One should only have to take so much, regardless of who that person is. Furthermore, Peltz is not suing students alone; he is also suing a group in the community who aided the students in their efforts. It's not the neat little package you might think it is.

In my opinion, this lawsuit says much more about the poor quality of the administration at the school than it does about Peltz or even the people he is suing.

4:02

"Peltz did not do what the [student groups] allege[], hence the claim for defamation"

Is this a motion to dismiss? Do we have to accept the facts as alleged? No. This is a gossip blog. If you don't like it, go back to your TTT library and study for your TTTests, so you can try to graduate top of your class and (at best) land a job at a local plaintiffs' firm.

And 4:02, even if your precious prof is no joke, you are. Now please leave this blog. We only like T15 students/grads and people who are sub-T15 yet realistic about their suckiness (ala Loyola 2L)

4:02: Of course his CV is impressive to you, you go to school in Arkansas.

4:23: Wow. Harsh. True, but harsh.

"Have a nice day"

4:23 & 4:24

It's interesting to me that you make the assumption that I am a student at the school rather than someone who happens to know Peltz well. Regardless, just because someone lives in Arkansas or goes to school there does not make that person unintelligent. Perhaps you need an ivy league name on your diploma to make yourself feel smarter, but some people are happy to be student-loan free in a place they enjoy living. Furthermore, I hardly think questioning the abilities of the administration at that school qualifies me as one who thinks the school does nto suck.

Also, if you haven't checked out his CV (which I'm sure you haven't), then you don't really need to be commenting on its impressiveness or lack thereof.

Finally, while you don't have to accept the facts as true, you'll sound like less of an idiot if you realize that, yes, this is a gossip blog, and it is open to everyone so that different points of view can be expressed. And if you don't like that, then you can take your supposedly T15 degree and head on out.

4:46 You do not "qualify" as one who "does nto suck".

5:06: Very intelligent comment. Your law school should be proud.

Perhaps we should all move on to bigger and better things--you know, actually discussing the merits of the lawsuit rather than each other's resumes.

Tsk, tsk 5:06. You really shouldn't make fun of someone else's typo when there is a mistake in your own post.

1:42 - only in the south is duke regarded highly?

i am not a dukie (quite to the contrary, i can't stand the school nor its ridiculous mascot), but a quick search of martindale shows 406 duke law grads in nyc. while i'm sure not all of them are at top shops, that still shows that you yankee asswipes don't mind hiring more than a few dozen of them.

4:23 - there is no 15, UCLA is a regional vocational school.

No black students on the Law Review, and 30% of 2007 entering class was "of color." Sorry, but WTF does one have to do with the other?

6:41- Highly credited. Vandy (at #15) really is a cut above UCLA, UTTTAustin, USC, etc. A national school compared to regional technical law schools.

6:51- What that proves is that a "color blind" law review competition is inherently racist, as it treats everyone equally.

The number one question I have is how these schools will be protecting their students. I agree with the general opinion that these cases (particularly the Dartmouth one) are non-starters, but even a bad case can make a defendant's life miserable. I can definitely say if I were a student I'd jump ship immediately if the school didn't cover both possible liability and attorney's fees (and I'd pull my kid if I were a parent of one of those Dartmouth freshmen).

The real black eye in this story is that Dartmouth hired this bitch in the first place as a frickin WRITING professor even though she can't write. Congrats, DarTTTmouth grads, your degrees have officially been diminished.

I was lucky enough to have Mr. Peltz for a Constitutional Law course while he was a visiting professor at Catholic University in DC. He's a brilliant teacher, down to earth, and funny as hell. There were even occasions where he played brief clips from The Daily Show or The Onion to illustrate points.

He knew the subject material like the back of his hand, and gave us very effective analytical tools for parsing constitutional law issues.

Peltz has a smart sense of wit and humor. It's clear from the allegations that the students who are defaming him don't.

6:41: I don't really know much about UCLA, but I can say that I don't regard it any higher or lower than GeorgeTTTown. I also think "T14" offends my sense of roundness. "T15" is a nice round number. I felt a bit rude saying T3.

-4:23

I checked it out. Duke law-school is ranked 12 in the country, for what it's worth.

I found the Rosa Parks story. It's a satire of Bush. It supports civil rights. I don't know how Pelz used the article, but it is supportive of affirmative action. Read it for yourself: http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/hoglawyer/2008/03/allegations_of_racism_at_ualr.aspx#more
If somebody thought it was conservative, they should read it again!