the commentatorThe Student Newspaper of the New York University School of Law Volume XLIII, Number 10 March 3, 2010 Annual Public Service Auction Raises $95,000 for Public Interest Total Amount Raised Is Down From Last Year; Dean Revesz Loses in Straight Sets in Wii Tennis Showdown BY RU B EN LOYO ’12 indications a success for everyone makes events like the PILC Auction none of this would be possible,” contributed “A Radical Walking Tour CONT R I B UTING WR ITE R involved. “more crucial than ever,” said Sara Seddon said. of Greenwich Village,” a tour of lo- “We were extremely excited Rakita, Associate Director of the Over 30 faculty members con- cal social justice landmarks including On Feb. 18, students, faculty, with the enthusiasm throughout Public Interest Law Center. tributed auction items this year; one the birthplace of labor rights, the alumni and law school supporters the law school and beyond for the “I’m grateful that PILC will of the most popular items of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and the came together for the 16th An- event,” said Jeff Seddon ’11, who continue funding public interest night was a weekend at the farm- Stonewall Inn, which was important nual New York University School co-chaired the Auction Committee internships at the same level,” said house of Dean Richard Revesz and in the LGBT rights movement. of Law Public Service Action. with Alyssa Mack ’11. Carolyn Corrado ’11, who will be Vicki Been, Director of the Furman Another notable faculty contribu- The annu- interning at the Executive Office for tion was “Din- al auction Immigration Review of the United ner and a Bad b e n e f i t s States Department of Justice. “It Movie” with the hun- seems like many more 2Ls will be P r o f e s s o r s dreds of doing public interest work this sum- Troy McK- NYU Law mer,” Corrado said. Second year enzie, Oren students students who pursue public interest Bar-Gill, Lily who de- summer internships receive $6,500 Batchelder and cide to pur- for the summer while 1Ls receive a Florencia Ma- sue public $4,500 grant for such work. rotta-Wurgler. i n t e r e s t Economic troubles aside, the Of course, intern- PILC Auction has always been a it wouldn’t be ships each reflection of NYU law students’ the PILC Auc- s u m m e r resourcefulness and dedication to tion without in govern- public service. Dozens of students Wii Tennis with ment, pub- coordinate all aspects of the event, Dean Richard lic defend- from canvassing miles of New York “McEnroe” ers officers, Stavan Desai City neighborhoods for donations Revesz, which Stavan Desai i m p a c t from businesses to encouraging has become an litigation faculty members and fellow class- annual PILC organizations and other not-for- This summer, a record number mates to donate their time, talents Auction tradi- profit organizations. This year’s of students are expected to receive and valuables. Center for Real Estate and Urban tion. Ian Herbert ’11 won the best- auction raised $95,000, slightly less PILC funding due in large part to “Alyssa and I are very proud Policy. The farmhouse retreat went of-three match against the Dean, than last year’s total of $100,000. a disappointing law firm-hiring of all our committee chairs and the for $2,600. Deb Ellis, Assistant Dean who was dressed like tennis legend Still, this year’s Auction was by all season for the Class of 2011. This committee members without whom for the Public Interest Law Center, John McEnroe, in straight sets. Law School Participates In University Games BY DANIE L EVANS ’11 school’s biggest competition at the a number of distinguished finishes. CONT R I B UTING WR ITE R 2010 Games. For the second year in a row, the A university-wide event, the law school took second place in the After the law school’s surprising Games pit each school against each 3x3 basketball tournament and third third place overall finish in the 2009 other in team sports like basketball, volleyball, tug-of-war and dodgeball. The Games also feature a wide variety of curi- ous individual events such as rock climbing, foosball, rock-paper- scissors and sumo wrestling (complete with fat suits). Creative contests involving ban- ners and t-shirt designs are featured, as well. Daniel Evans Only 15 law stu- dents assembled to Daniel Evans compete in the 2010 Kathiana Aurelien ’10 shows how low she Games. This was a Daniel Novak ’11 (left) and Jason Mollick can go in the limbo competition. much small contingent ’10 (right) swing away at table tennis. of competitors than All-University Games, a contingent last year when the law school surged place in the rock climbing event. The of law school competitors hoped to a third-place finish, trouncing competitors also bumped long and to build on that success in the 12th all comers in volleyball and sumo hard to take a share of fourth place annual contest of the All-University wrestling. This year proved a dif- in sumo wrestling. Games held at Coles Sports Center ferent story, though the law school The law school contingent’s on Thursday, Feb. 18. However, the did improve its skills in the limbo organizers hope to return in force PILC Auction and not the Stern competition, placing second overall. for next year’s games — with another School turned out to be the law The law school also came away with t-shirt design to boot. Ryan Kairalla Love crossword puzzles but hate the New York Times? Well we have an page 2 original Commentator puzzle to suit your every need. A snowman in Washington Square Park happily dons an NYU t-shirt last Friday, Feb. 26, when NYU cancelled classes for the day because of the Over one month after it began, the Lawyering debate continues. page 3 snowstorm that hit the Northeast region of the United States. It was the sec- ond time in two weeks that at least part of the day was cancelled because of Infra If you’re wearing sweatpants right now, you should read this fashion piece. page 4 snow. No classes were held and the law library was also closed. All cancelled classes will have to be made up in the future. Opinions & Editorials Page 2 c March 3, 2010 A Hammurabi’s Code for NYU Law Professors to Follow BY MI C HAE L MIX ’11 at 10:50 a.m., not 11 a.m. Please gunners to shut up. This leads to professors try to do it by memory for a future class? The answer is ED ITO R -IN -CHIEF don’t forget this. a string of random hypothetical which never works. apparently no. I am sure there are Also, even if you know what questions that don’t go anywhere Third, try to maintain some professors who actually make a It is hard enough to pay at- time class actually ends, do not just and cause everyone else in the kind of equality among the panels. conscious decision to improve tention to what is going on during ignore that time and keep us over. class to stop paying attention. I have had professors who for themselves based on evaluations, class in law school, but it is even I understand that sometimes the If a gunner asks whether Luke some unknown reason call on one but too many seem to completely worse when my professors can’t class is engaging in a juicy debate Skywalker has any defenses to or two panels way more than the ignore them. I know that publish- teach. This occurrence is com- about federal preemption of state the intentional tort of cutting the others. This is completely unfair ing may be more important to mon at NYU as I constantly see law that you do not want to inter- Wampa’s arm off, kindly refrain and leads to angry West Side Story- many professors than actual teach- professors do things that drive rupt. But professors, fight this from answering. esque rivalries between panels ing but please at least pretend that me up the wall. Therefore, I am urge. If you expect us to attend Rule 4: Make the Panel (without randomly breaking into you care about improving your here to help. Let me proudly your class on time, how can you System Fair – in my opinion, the song). teaching ability given the absurd present my NYU Law Rules of justify keeping us over and making panel system is the greatest inven- Rule 5: Breaks! – I wrote tuition that we pay. Teaching. Don’t think of this as us late to our next class? tion since the cotton gin. Well about this in detail last year, so Rule 7: Minimize Power- a Constitution, a living breathing Rule 2: Assign an Appro- maybe that is hyperbole, but it is I will not go over it again. But Point Use – I go back and forth document; instead think of this as priate Amount of Reading – I at least one of the greatest inven- I just want to reiterate that yes, on this because I have had a akin to Hammurabi’s Code – I am know that we are in law school and tions of the last 100 years or so, a NYU Law does require 10-minute couple of professors actually use posting it in the town square (sort that we are supposed to get a lot list that also includes the Internet, breaks for one hour and 50 minute PowerPoint very effectively.