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Wake Forest Law Students: Time for the Annual Meltdown

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Around this time last year, we ran a story about a person at Wake Forest going ballistic at the school’s Career Services Office.

There must be something about springtime weather that brings out the crazies at Wake. A tipster reports that this year a student once again has lost his mind because of the challenging job market:

[J]ust wanted to let you guys know that another lame student at Wake Forest Law has had a meltdown because he/she could not find a job. Earlier today, this student sent out a school-wide email that threatens career services and slams the dean, the library, those in charge of LLM program, etc. Unlike last year, this year’s message was sent under an anonymous gmail account instead of an actual student account…

This latest email is both funny and pathetic — the author threatens to release information about career services’ coffee breaks unless the career services department resigns. Apparently these breaks have been observed by a group of secret agent students over the course of the year. Why does this always happen at this school? This kid should seriously concentrate on studying for finals.

Honestly, how many times do we need to tell law students that threatening people will get you nowhere? Every lawyer knows that you can threaten laypeople with impunity. But lawyers and legal professionals don’t take well to bullying because they know the law.

In any event, let’s take a look at the student’s ravings and the fairly measured response from the Wake Forest Dean…

In the words of Dr. Peter Venkman: “Egon’s gone bye-bye, what have you got left Ray?” Here’s the student’s email, sent to the entire school:

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I give up. On four separate occasions I have scheduled a meeting with [the Dean] to discuss the deterioration of the career service department, and on all 4 occasions I have been unable to meet with him. Twice I arrived at the dean’s office only to be told he was not here today and I would need to reschedule the appointment for another time, but for two of the appointments I sat in the office for 20 minutes only to have to leave to go to class because he was running late or still in a meeting. I can’t decide if the dean is just rude, has no concept of time, doesn’t want to deal with the problem or is so disorganized that he has lost control. I have made up my mind, I’ll let you makeup yours.

After being stood up for the fourth time, I remembered the anonymous email sent to everyone about the Career Services department last spring and the reaction it received. Clearly, the only way to get this dean to react is to do so in a public forum…

Throughout the fall semester a group of us logged every hour a member of the career services department worked. We noted when they arrived, we noted when they left, we noted how long they sat around a table and had a cup of coffee, we noted how long they took for lunch. Many of you won’t be surprised to learn just how little real work gets done in the department. We went to great lengths to document the loss of on campus interviews. We surveyed North Carolina firms about recent hires and were astonished that the small upstart law school, Elon, has better placement rates than Wake Forest in North Carolina firms. All of this will come out in a few days. However, I wanted to give each of the members of the career services department a chance to resign so their information does not become public. So if they would like to avoid the public embarrassment of their work habits being aired, here is their chance.

Sorry, I’m going to have to cut this guy off right there. What kind of lunatic spends time during the semester logging when career service professionals take a coffee break? Nobody is losing out on a job opportunity because an office worker took a long lunch. The legal economy is trying to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression. That’s why you can’t get a job with your Wake Forest law degree.

Anyway, the crazy person continues:

We also are completing an investigation of the llm program. Have you ever wondered why it takes 5 people to keep up with 12 students? The cost of this program is almost beyond belief. Wait till you see how other schools manage their programs. Talk about waste at Wake. Some may argue their value to the diversity of the student body, but just want do they add when they stay to them selves? Do we test their command of the English language? Talk to some of them and you will have to answer no. All of these details will come out in another public email early next week.

Other topics will include the library. Why do we have so many books with dust on them and not enough carrels for the students? Computer technology. Why do we have to buy our computers when every other student at this university is given one when they arrive? Why do they call it a computer lab when there aren’t any computers in it?

Umm … why didn’t you figure this stuff out before you went to law school? Why aren’t you taking control of your own career instead of waiting for the school to bail you out? Why are you worried about other people’s command of English when you seem to lack the ability to think rationally in any language?

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One parting thought, why is the business school getting to leave the Worrell High School building for a new school while we are stuck here? I’ll gladly contribute to a capital campaign for the dynamite to demolish dear old Worrell High so we can start over. Why did we have to learn about these plans from the business school students? Why hasn’t [the Dean] addressed this with us? Oh yeah, he doesn’t want to meet with us.

Maybe you should have gone to business school instead of law school? Oh wait, you probably couldn’t have gotten into business school if you think Wake can’t afford its LL.M program, yet has the money to blow up a perfectly functional law school building and build an entirely new home to ameliorate the i-banker envy you’re likely to suffer from for the rest of your life.

One of the Wake Forest deans (we’re not sure if it was Dean Blake Morant or one of the school’s associate deans) did respond to the entire law school community about this student:

Dear Law School Community:

I have received an anonymous email message that disparages the law school and is replete with untruths and inaccuracies. It is impossible, if not completely inappropriate, to address the unfounded expressions of an anonymous writer. We take pride in our deep sense of community and welcome a dialogue with anyone seeking to maximize his or her individual success and also uplift what is an excellent law school.

That’s right, this student carried out his entire hack job on the law school, anonymously. It’s one thing to talk to, say, a legal tabloid about what’s going on at your place of business on the condition of anonymity. But it’s just … weak … to agitate for law school reforms in such a strident manner without having the guts to sign your name to it.

But that’s the thing. It doesn’t look like this kid was trying to make Wake Forest Law School a better place for all the students. Instead it looks like this guy was just pissed off he doesn’t have a job and is looking for somebody to blame.

It’s a good thing this kid knows exactly how much time it should take a person to get a coffee. Something tells me the student will be fetching a lot of lattes in the future.

Earlier: Wake Forest Law Student: The Latest Meltdown

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