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Ever Wonder How Obama Became President of the Harvard Law Review?
NYT ^ | February 6, 1990 | FOX BUTTERFIELD

Posted on 10/01/2010 10:04:29 PM PDT by aquila48

The Harvard Law Review, generally considered the most prestigious in the country, elected the first black president in its 104-year history today. The job is considered the highest student position at Harvard Law School. The new president of the Review is Barack Obama, a 28-year-old graduate of Columbia University who spent four years heading a community development program for poor blacks on Chicago's South Side before enrolling in law school. His late father, Barack Obama, was a finance minister in Kenya and his mother, Ann Dunham, is an American anthropologist now doing fieldwork in Indonesia. Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii. ''The fact that I've been elected shows a lot of progress,'' Mr. Obama said today in an interview. ''It's encouraging.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: harvard; harvardlaw; obama
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To: J Edgar
Anyone who respects an University that does not require final examines is foolish.

You don't know what you are talking about.

At least all the first year courses at Harvard Law are graded entirely based on a final exam. AND the system is set up so that the professors grading the exams do not know the names of the students they are grading, so there can be no favoritism.

61 posted on 10/02/2010 12:10:25 AM PDT by wideminded
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To: wideminded

“About a year ago I checked the last seven presidents of the Harvard Law Review against the archived HLR online. NONE of them had published any articles in the HLR, although a couple were credited in footnotes with assistance (as Obama was).”

That covers the last seven years, when the position was no longer based on merit.

Also, I just checked the HLR site and here’s what I found...

http://www.harvardlawreview.org/about.php

The last paragraph states that student’s writing in the Review is unsigned, so from that alone we can’t tell who wrote what. But it is widely accepted that Obama contributed only one article to the Review.

Here’s another article (written by Obama himself in 1990) on the selection process and the controversy even then of the part that affirmative action played in his selection.

http://www.hlrecord.org/2.4475/record-retrospective-obama-on-affirmative-action-1.577511


62 posted on 10/02/2010 12:15:26 AM PDT by aquila48
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To: Vendome

I noticed it and I’m sure most of us did. Good catch, though.


63 posted on 10/02/2010 12:16:39 AM PDT by Misterioso (Burning a Koran is a victimless crime.)
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To: wideminded
The news report that I saw stated that finals are not required if the professor so desires. The default use to be that the professor had to apply for permission, but that was changed so that the default is no finals! Maybe I am misinformed, but the product that Harvard spews is not impressive in regards to knowledge acquired, integrity performed, commitment to inquiry, or intellectual acumen! JMHO
64 posted on 10/02/2010 12:21:05 AM PDT by J Edgar
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To: aquila48
From Board of Editors list of Volume 124: Petko Peev. Ya' think?
65 posted on 10/02/2010 12:21:44 AM PDT by Misterioso (Burning a Koran is a victimless crime.)
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To: wideminded

Sure thing WideMinded, Haaarrrvhaaad and the Ivy’s have been providing crappy leadership for over a century. Remember most of the crappy leftist bureaucracies in our Gov are filled with these pricks. Think UN/IMF/Federal Reserve/ State Dept. Remember McNamara’s gang of fools, losing China and the Balkins as well as Eastern Europe to Communism, the abject failure of the IVY encrusted CIA, the IVY educated Kennedy, Bush & Rockefeller idiots, the crappy MBA’s that have destroyed our economy, the craphead Lawyers that have infested the political ranks and on and on. I see a day in the near future that these failed types will be thrown out of any leadership role and the sooner the better!


66 posted on 10/02/2010 12:23:54 AM PDT by iopscusa (El Vaquero. (SC Lowcountry Cowboy))
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To: aquila48

I did some poking around on the subject of how one “makes Law Review” (i.e. is selected to be a member of a student-run law journal) at a law school. The “writing competition” seems to be generally known as the “Write-On Competition” and its weight for law review selection varies from school to school. In some cases the competition is the sole criterion and in others it is considered along with grades/class rank.

Some excerpts and links follow. Please forgive the length. Pause to read the Volokh link for a bit of refreshment and a few chuckles. The note at the end is of interest.

*********************************************

http://www.law.georgetown.edu/journals/WriteOnInformation.htm

http://www.law.georgetown.edu/journals/gjil/GJILWriteOnInformation.htm
Selection for Georgetown Journal of International Law (GJIL) is based on a combination of grades (50%) and on the write-on competition score (50%). Please feel free to contact me via email ( ram93@law.georgetown.edu) if you have any questions. We wish you the best of luck on exams and the write-on competition. Enjoy the summer!

http://www.law.udc.edu/?page=LawReview
Students are eligible to join Law Review at the end of their full first or second years at UDC-DCSL, either based upon their grade average or by participating in a write-on competition.

http://volokh.com/posts/1192207892.shtml
10.12.2007 4:28pm
(link) Eugene Volokh (http://volokh.com/):
Some law reviews are mostly, or entirely, write-on, with no grade-on element. The UCLA Law Review, for instance, is probably 80% write-on or so, though the precise formula is complex.

http://law.bepress.com/templelr/competition.html

http://www.sandiego.edu/law/news/blogs_publications/publications/journals/climate/prospective_members/competition.php

Annual Write-On Competition
How does the San Diego Journal of Climate and Energy Law select its members?
Full-time students entering their 2L or 3L year and part-time students entering their 4L year or below are eligible to compete to join the San Diego Journal of Climate and Energy Law (JCEL). To be considered for membership, students must participate in JCEL’s write-on competition. JCEL’s write-on competition is held in collaboration with the San Diego Law Review and the San Diego International Law Journal.

What is the write-on competition?
The write-on competition is a cooperative effort between JCEL, the San Diego Law Review and the San Diego International Law Journal that enables interested students to apply to all three journals at the same time. The competition consists of a legal problem that each competitor must analyze and address. Each eligible competitor is provided with a copy of the problem and copies of all the relevant statutes, cases and other sources of law. No additional research is allowed. Students then prepare briefs, approximately ten pages in length, that address the relevant legal issues involved in the problem. Students must also perform a citation edit using The Bluebook. Grading of the write-on competition is completely anonymous, and selection onto JCEL is entirely merit-based. All competitors must do their own work and shall not confer with other competitors about the write-on problem. Cooperative efforts will be deemed honor code violations and will be reported as such.

http://www.nyls.edu/academics/jd_programs/law_review/write-on_competition

http://nevadalawjournal.org/
In addition to the Editorial Board, the NLJ is made up of junior staff members, mostly in their second or third year of law school. Junior staff members are selected based on their class-rank and/or demonstrated abilities as provided by an annual “Write-On” competition. At least 5% of the junior staff members are selected based on their grades, while the other portion of junior staff members have the option of competing in the “Write-On.” The Editorial Board determines the number of junior staff members selected for the NLJ and has the duty of selecting the top “Write-On” submissions.

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Law-Review-Write-Competition/dp/1594605203
Making Law Review: The Expert’s Guide to Mastering the Write-on Competition [Paperback]
Wes Henricksen (Author)
Publisher: Carolina Academic Press (September 19, 2008)

http://uclalawreview.org/?page_id=248

http://lawreview.tmc.cooley.edu/Default.aspx?pageId=117296
Prospective Members

Eligibility Criteria

Students who have completed 20 credit hours with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above and who have a grade of 3.0 or above in Research and Writing are invited, by the Law Review, to enroll in Scholarly Writing – a two-credit honors writing class. Upon completion of Scholarly Writing with a “B” or better, students are invited to interview for positions on the Law Review.

Students who have completed 20 credit hours with a cumulative GPA of 2.75 to 2.99 and who have a grade of 3.0 or above in Research and Writing are eligible to compete in the Write-On Competition.

The Write-On Competition

The Thomas M. Cooley Law Review is pleased to announce its Michaelmas 2010 Write-On Competition. The competition will run from October 11 to October 29, 2010. This competition offers students who would otherwise be ineligible for membership to participate in the Scholarly Writing class and demonstrate their ability to become a member of Law Review.

The Michaelmas 2010 Write-On Competition will begin on October 11 at 8:00 a.m., and end on October 29 at 5:00 p.m. To participate in the Write-On Competition, you must have:

A cumulative GPA of 2.75-2.99;
A “B” or better in Research and Writing;
Completed at least 20 credit hours.
Students who have a 3.0 or better cumulative GPA after completing 20 hours and have received a “B” or better in Research and Writing are automatically eligible for Scholarly Writing and need not participate in the Write-On Competition.

http://www.rutgerspolicyjournal.org/membership.html

The Volokh Conspiracy - Bizarre Harvard Law Review Student Note
http://volokh.com/posts/1211824928.shtml

AND

http://www.harvardlawreview.org/hlr_477.php

Harvard Law Review Membership Selection Policies

Membership in the Harvard Law Review is limited to second- and third-year law students who are selected on the basis of their performance on an annual writing competition. Harvard Law School students who are interested in joining the Review must write the competition at the end of their 1L year, even if they plan to take time off during law school or are pursuing a joint degree and plan to spend a year at another Harvard graduate school.

Information for prospective transfer students.[link]

In recent years, the number of students completing the competition has ranged from 200 to 255. Between 41 and 43 students are invited to join the Review each year.

Fourteen editors (two from each 1L section) are selected based on a combination of their first-year grades and their competition scores. Twenty editors are selected based solely on their competition scores. The remaining editors are selected on a discretionary basis. Some of these discretionary slots may be used to implement the Review’s affirmative action policy.


67 posted on 10/02/2010 12:24:44 AM PDT by thecodont
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To: thecodont

I still don’t understand how he became President of the USA.


68 posted on 10/02/2010 12:36:02 AM PDT by JerseyDvl (Sometimes the road less traveled.... is less traveled for a reason.)
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To: aquila48
"...his mother, Ann Dunham, is an American anthropologist now doing fieldwork in Indonesia."

Oh yeah! We know what kind of anthropologist she was and what forms of humanity held her interest.


69 posted on 10/02/2010 12:47:31 AM PDT by Iron Munro (I prayed: "O Lord make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it - He sent the Obamas.)
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To: Williams
Putting aside Obama for a moment, don’t you just love how the editors used to be chosen on merit, but “that system came under attack”.

The liberal elites make me puke, Harvard my rear, they are jackasses.

-------------------------------

Our first affirmative action President

He is a menace to our nation and damn near everyone living here.

Obama bamboozled millions... gave them the old 'okee doke.' What a moron. He can have as extreme a views as he wants. But he can't transfer them and remake America with them.

Time to end the experiment brought on by the piss-steam media and the Bush derangement crowd.

obama-the-teacher2sm

70 posted on 10/02/2010 12:53:16 AM PDT by BobP (The piss-stream media - Never to be watched again in my house)
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To: BobP

I want to hear more.

Who are you? You just some wacked ass-hat or what?

We got some serious issues going on here.


71 posted on 10/02/2010 1:00:11 AM PDT by raygun
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To: iopscusa
Remember McNamara’s gang of fools, losing China and the Balkins as well as Eastern Europe to Communism

The communists took over in China in 1949. At that time McNamara had been working at Ford Motor Company since he left the military in 1946. He stayed at Ford until 1960.

72 posted on 10/02/2010 1:01:30 AM PDT by wideminded
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To: aquila48

Easy/ They changed his low grades to A’s, kept his writing samples secret, and put him on Law Review.

Why else are all his academic records sealed?


73 posted on 10/02/2010 1:02:36 AM PDT by Cincinna (TIME TO REBUILD * ? * RYAN * 2012)
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To: raygun

Who are you... some wacked Obama Supporter?


74 posted on 10/02/2010 1:11:42 AM PDT by BobP (The piss-stream media - Never to be watched again in my house)
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To: JerseyDvl

You don’t underatand how this country works.


75 posted on 10/02/2010 1:19:45 AM PDT by raygun
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To: libertarian27

“Borg Queen”

LOL, that’s what I’m calling him from now on!


76 posted on 10/02/2010 1:45:30 AM PDT by nolongerademocrat ("Before you ask G-d for something, first thank G-d for what you already have." B'rachot 30b)
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To: aquila48
Paraphrasing..."They elected me so they are progressing."


Can ya say narcissist?...Sure ya can.
77 posted on 10/02/2010 2:39:00 AM PDT by Tainan (Cogito, ergo conservatus)
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To: truth_seeker; aquila48

Bambi’s article is located at Volume 103, Page 823 of Harvard Law Review


78 posted on 10/02/2010 4:04:02 AM PDT by shalom aleichem
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To: iopscusa

You’re absolutely right about the mole. Reminds me of the “Salt” movie with Angelina Jolie.


79 posted on 10/02/2010 4:07:33 AM PDT by shalom aleichem
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To: STARWISE

Yes, president of the law review is not the same as editor.

We have yet to see anything he wrote during his tenure there, probably because he didn’t write anything with redeeming literary or legal value.


80 posted on 10/02/2010 4:16:14 AM PDT by Canedawg (...still not digging this tyranny thing.)
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