Do private outline banks violate the UM Law Honor Code?
Many law student organizations at UM maintain "private" outline banks. "Private" means that members are not to share outlines from the bank with non-members.
I find this practice offensive. To give the issue background, consider the following:
1. Many of the organizations are organized around ethnic, racial, political, or even religious premises. For example, Black Law Student's Association or Cardozo Legal Society, Christian Law Student Society. Granted, anyone may join any organization, but as a practical matter the students segregate themselves willingly.
2. Some organizations, in particular law reviews, are purely merit based, and not all students may join.
What irks me is the fact that exclusive outline banks essentialy create a situation where a class of students are sharing information with some collegues, denying it to others.
Over the weekend, I plan to peruse the UM Law Honor Code and see what I can come up with.
BTW: I am a member of organizations with exclusive banks. But I get my outlines from the net, mostly from the Harvard bank which is excellent. I also buy commercial outlines. My gripe is the principle; access to more outlines would not influence my grades.
I find this practice offensive. To give the issue background, consider the following:
1. Many of the organizations are organized around ethnic, racial, political, or even religious premises. For example, Black Law Student's Association or Cardozo Legal Society, Christian Law Student Society. Granted, anyone may join any organization, but as a practical matter the students segregate themselves willingly.
2. Some organizations, in particular law reviews, are purely merit based, and not all students may join.
What irks me is the fact that exclusive outline banks essentialy create a situation where a class of students are sharing information with some collegues, denying it to others.
Over the weekend, I plan to peruse the UM Law Honor Code and see what I can come up with.
BTW: I am a member of organizations with exclusive banks. But I get my outlines from the net, mostly from the Harvard bank which is excellent. I also buy commercial outlines. My gripe is the principle; access to more outlines would not influence my grades.
posted by King of the Cats @ 8:53 AM
2 Comments:
At 1:06 AM,
Christopher Chopin said…
Personally, my time at um law was made easier by outlining on my own...was the difference between spending 2 weeks studying someone else's outline or spending 1 making my own, and remembering it better...as to the Honor Code, I think you'll find it still leaves the exclusion of "unauthorized materials" up to a particular professor, and I can't remember ever being warned off of any available aid. That doesn't make it less creepy.
At 12:11 PM,
Anonymous said…
Absurd. The person who wrote the outline gets to decide who can look at it. The person can delegate that right to a group. What, you don't believe in intellectual property?
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