The legal research and writing program for 1Ls wrapped up earlier this month, and according to course evaluations collected by the faculty, the feedback has been “incredibly positive,” said Associate Dean Ben Alarie.
“I’m not saying that every form we received was positive, but overall it’s very good feedback. The program was highly rated and stands up with the other elements of our first year program.”
Associate Dean Sara Faherty is in the process of putting together a memo on the feedback that will be released next month, but the evaluation forms remain confidential.
For SLS Vice President Justin Nasseri, the faculty’s insistence on keeping the evaluations ‘private’ is a barrier to information and yet another example of the faculty failing to engage in student consultation.
“There is a Dean’s Committee that has rightfully appointed student membership, and the committee has been meeting without students being involved. SLS has been kept completely out of the loop,” said Nasseri.
Nasseri also said that there was a discord between Alarie’s claim of “incredibly positive” feedback, and the stories of 1L students who say that they got very little out of the program.
In particular, a town hall meeting was held last month on the issue and there was “unanimously negative feedback,” said Nasseri. “There wasn’t a single 1L who had something positive to say.”
There were about 15 students who attended the town hall meeting out of a total class of 199 1Ls. According to Alarie, the students there represented a selective and biased sample.
“If you have a session and you advertise it to students who are busy, you’re going to have a biased sample of students who show up. Those who do show up have an axe to grind,” said Alarie.
Nasseri admits that the town hall was sparsely attended, but remains committed to finding out whether these student voices are the minority of the 1L class or whether negative responses are more widespread.
On Thursday, the SLS will be conducting a consultation exercise with 1Ls to collect more thorough feedback and explanations as to the strengths and weaknesses of the program.
It won’t be until next month that the faculty’s memo on the evaluation forms and the results from SLS’s survey will be made public.
Until then, Nasseri hopes that the faculty will make efforts to keep the SLS informed and updated about all developments.
Alarie said that the SLS will unquestionably be invited to the Dean’s Committee meeting. “There just hasn’t been one yet. It’s not like there’s a clandestine meeting somewhere, where you have to wear cloaks and it’s in the basement of Falconer.”
