Printing on My Own Dime

Of all the things I miss about being a law student, I may be most nostalgic for those sweet, sweet library printing privileges.

Health Services

Three years as a UALR student, and I never had occasion to use the student clinic until this week. I had heard bad things about the health services department, but my experience was perfect. I was just there for a tetanus booster (dog bite, kind of a long story), and they took care of me in under ten minutes. Best of all, it was free (well, free in the sense that I prepaid for it with my student activity fees). Incidentally, if you are a UALR student and plan to step on a rusty nail in the next few years, now is the time to get that tetanus shot. Starting in fall 2011, they're going to cost $25.

Because the law school is across town from UALR's main campus, I think some students don't realize that their student ID gets them all the same perks the undergraduates enjoy. My favorite is the free admission to school sporting events. I'm going to miss that next year.

More Lumens, More Learning

The projector in classroom 305 got a new bulb yesterday, ushering in a new era of clarity and legibility. Note-taking is going to be a piece of cake for the rest of the semester.

Limited Study Space

I was back at the library today for the first time since I had to give up my private study carrel. You see, there aren't enough carrels to go around, so they turn over every semester. Now that I'm finished with my law review note, I no longer get priority when carrels are assigned. I'm going to miss having a place to store all my books and bags.

Well-Fueled Study Sessions

I don't know if the student government is burning off its unused budget for the year or what, but the student lounge has been positively bathed in free food this weekend. If the idea was to encourage students to study on campus, it's working on me. I rarely come to school on Saturdays, but here I am.

Legal Ducks

The Bowen school is across the street from a large park, complete with ponds and fountains. As such, it is not uncommon for one to be menaced by ducks on one's way into the building.

New Student Lounge

The renovations to the student lounge are finished, and only a couple of weeks behind schedule. It's too bad I don't have a "before" picture for comparison. The old lounge had a beige, characterless, public-school-cafeteria vibe. The new lounge looks like a Starbucks. The televisions are new. Time will tell whether they are an improvement.

Budget Cuts

Going to an inexpensive state university has its disadvantages. The state cut the university's budget this year, so there is a spending freeze in effect for the next several weeks. One by one, the restrooms are running out of soap, toilet paper, and paper towels. The student lounge is under renovation, so we've already been deprived of coffee. Pretty soon it's going to turn into Lord of the Flies around here, and we'll see how devoted to the rule of law we really are.

I Have an Office

Ah, the benefits of being an upper-level student. Check out the sweet private workspace I have been assigned in the library. Rather, the workspace I share with a randomly assigned partner. The point is, I'm a total bigshot now.

Studying in Comfort

The crazy schedule of work plus summer school (part time students, I have a renewed respect for you) has made it hard to post regularly, but I must take a moment to report that the school has put some sweet new comfy chairs in the library lobby. They're dynamite!

View From the Top

Lately I've taken to sitting by the windows in the library. The sunlight is nice, but the view leaves something to be desired. Unless you happen to be into interstate on-ramps. Here is a crummy cell phone photo. Incidentally, let me assure you that the research materials strewn around the desk are not staged. I took this photo when I was working on my first paper of the spring semester.

Wise Guy Architect

The restrooms on the first and second floor of the law school are identically situated, with one important exception: on the first floor, the men's room is on the left. On the second floor, the men's room is on the right. I've made the mistake twice, but so far without consequences. I must be more careful.

Technology Taketh Away

There are ninety-plus students in my class, so we meet in a very large classroom. There are microphones in the ceiling to pick up students' voices and project them to the other side of the classroom. That's great when there's a class discussion going. It's not so great in the dead of winter when everyone is coughing and wheezing.

Seating Settled

I scored my Contracts seat (my most desirable seat, it being on the aisle) for Civil Procedure, so all's right with the world. I can tell already that my seat assignment in Criminal Law is going to be a pain. My neighbor spent all of today's class checking Facebook and shopping online. I was flabbergasted. Who can be bored by a discussion of murder and cannibalism? And why would that person go to law school?

Seating Chart Madness

I had hoped that everyone would stick to their old seats for the new semester, but no such luck. It's the August scramble all over again, and this time I've found myself in a different chair for every class. I need to draw myself a diagram before I forget them all. Civil Procedure meets for the first time tomorrow, so that will be a fourth chair to remember.

Creatures of Habit

Many of my classmates have become very predictable library lurkers - they're in the same seat every time I come into the library. It's like church. I wonder what would happen if I got here really early and occupied someone's seat? I know I'm irritated when I go to one of my usual library haunts and find it occupied. Upperclass students can rent a study carrel with a locking door - a personal office in the library, essentially. It's going to be great!

Free Food

I thought for sure that the free food would dry up after the first couple of weeks, but the gravy train just won't end. Some form of free lunch is on offer about once a week. At least half the time it's pizza, but today it was mexican food from the Hispanic Law Students Association. The HLSA lunch didn't even require sitting through a seminar. Fantastic!

Rain + Old Construction = Wet Mess

The Bowen School of Law occupies a lovely building built by the WPA in 1933. On most days, it's a thrill to walk the halls of a monument to depression era industriousness. On days when it rains, the place is a maze of trash cans and carpet dryers. Seriously, this is a five story building. How can the ceilings be leaking on the first floor?

Saved By Classroom Technology

I've decided to stick with my undesireable seat (front row, extreme stage left) for every class. In time, I think I can learn to love it. For one thing, it affords a stellar view of the projector screen. I was worried about my view of the white board, but it turns out there is a camera trained on the board so that it can be projected on the screen right in front of my seat. Apart from the view, I may realize some benefits from being at the edge of the professor's peripheral vision - out of sight, out of mind, you know. Finally, I am grateful to be on an aisle and near the door. Students tote a lot of baggage into the classroom these days, and it's nice to not be trapped in the middle of the row while everyone packs up. Yes, things are looking pretty good on the seating front, or I've convinced myself that they are, which is pretty much the same thing.

Seating Chart Disaster!

Since law classes involve a lot of interaction between the professor and students, professors customarily assign seats. Knowing this, more or less everyone showed up very early for Torts this morning. I managed to score a pretty good seat in the middle of the room, only to have the professor tell us that seat assignments will be fixed the next time class meets. Fast forward to Contracts a few hours later, and I stroll into the lecture hall five or ten minutes before class. Eighty per cent of the students have stuck with the same seat they occupied for Torts, but my premium seat has been taken. In this class, of course, seats are assigned immediately. For the next three months I'm trapped at the far end of the front row as shown above. The white board is not even visible from my seat.

Now I am faced with a dilemma: I have four more classes in that room. Do I stick with this awkward seat for every class, or saddle myself with remembering a different seat for each class? Truly, law school tests one's judgment at every turn.