Law Exam Criticized For Hypothetically Raping Frat Boys
I don't see what's so shocking about a little forced sodomy hypothetical.
I guess we live in a world where people get offended by law school exam hypotheticals. In my day, back when we had to walk to law school uphill, both ways, you spotted legal issues, not moral turpitude, in your final exams.
But we covered the Widener Law School “dean killing” law school exam extensively. Now, we’ve got a really explicit exam where the hypos involve oral sex and forced sodomy.
Which, you know, wouldn’t bother me because whether or not a sword gets plunged into somebody’s belly or his backside couldn’t make a difference to me when I’m answering an issue spotter. But I’m not constantly looking for a reason to be offended…
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The exam comes from the University of Cambridge where the law faculty there gave an exam that ruffled some Victorian feathers. From the Daily Mail:
The question in the three-hour exam at the university’s Faculty of Law began: ‘Sandra is President of The Vizards, a College drinking society. She is organising the initiation of new members.
‘After a great deal of alcohol has been drunk, the members of the society form a circle around Billy, Gilbert and Richard who are to be initiated.’
The question then described three rituals in which a male student was blindfolded and given oral sex by another man, another was sexually assaulted with a bottle and a third had his pubic hair shaved off before dying from a subsequent infection.
After the exam, some students took to social media to describe how “horrific” and “inappropriate” the exam was.
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Whatever. Here’s an equally horrific exam hypo: “Billy died in a hail of gunfire during a botched attempt to purchase drugs from Sandra at the frat house. Gilbert severely injured himself rushing to Billy’s defense when he slipped on an improperly and negligently installed carpet and cracked his skull. Richard, having consumed a lot of alcohol, died along with Gilbert in a car accident as Richard attempted to drive Gilbert to the hospital.”
Pretty horrible, right? But I don’t think anybody would go on Twitter bemoaning their inappropriate issue spotter.
Of course, my hypo just involved death and violence. The Cambridge hypo involved (gasp) gay sex. OH NOES. “Oral sex by another man”???? Who can expected to be answer “law talking” questions about such situations?
It’s possible the British press and a few Twitter idiots are making a bigger deal out of this than it was at the time:
Luke Martin-Fuller, who sat the exam, told the Daily Telegraph that no-one in the examination hall had reacted when they first read the paper.
He said: ‘Nobody batted an eyelid, nobody sniggered or looked up or glanced at anyone – you just got on with it.
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In Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire, homophobia hardly ever happens.
Cambridge University defends law exam paper containing descriptions of oral sex, male rape and naked torture [Daily Mail]
Earlier: Widener Law School Still Isn’t Telling Students Its Stance on the ‘Dean Killing’ Hypothetical
