Rohan - Thanks for compiling this list and working hard to rectify these concerns. I addressed the general ideas behind these points in an e-mail I sent to Dean Schizer on June 27th. His response is below.
Jared - Dean Schizer responded to the e-mail that I sent on June 27th today. He definitely seems concerned and willing to implement innovative strategies to improve education at Columbia Law School. His response to my e-mail is below. Looks like we are moving in the right direction. I'm glad we spoke up.
*Thanks for this thoughtful email, William. You make some very good points, and we are taking these concerns seriously.
I met this morning with Jody Kraus, who is the chair of our student services committee. Our plan is to ask the faculty in the fall to enact a policy in which every first-year teacher in the fall semester is required to devote some time to giving students advice about taking exams. Professor Kraus and I will also encourage the committee to ask the faculty to enact a requirement that faculty in all semesters give feedback on exams.
In addition, I have a meeting scheduled next week for all faculty who will be teaching small sections, and will discuss with them the idea of incorporating more writing assignments with feedback in the small section (this is, of course, in addition to the legal writing sections students already have).
We have invested a lot in the past few years in increasing the scope of our legal writing sections -- they are now two semesters, and used to be one, and the program is now run by a colleague whose sole full-time responsibility is the writing program (Ilene Strauss). I'm glad to hear you agree that the program is important, and it's useful to hear your thoughts about how we might improve it.
May I share your email with colleagues who are working on these issues with me? Do you prefer for me to share the content but not your name? Please let me know.
By the way, congratulations on making law review.
Best,
DS*
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