Professor gossip
Anyone in law school knows how it is like high school for many reasons. Chief among them is that it is a closed universe and anything you do wrong or scandalous (which in my case I guess happens a fair amount of time), the word travels around the school like a Malibu wildfire. 1Ls are told to do all they can to avoid the gossip loop, since law is a small circle and you will eventually be working with your classmates in the same profession.
But here's a concept I haven't seen talked about much, and it exists to a large degree (at least here). Students aren't content just to gossip and spread rumors about other students, but also want to gossip about the personal lives of their professors and other professors in general. "Hey, did you hear so and so about Professor [x]?" Even though I try to avoid the gossip loop, I've heard the following things about various professors:
-One who drives a Porshe
-One who drives a Jaguar
-One who drives a banged-up Accord (and earns upwards of 200K)
-One who doesn't know how to drive and the school pays for a car and driver
-One who used to date/is dating a law student
-One who dropped out of high school and has a GED
-One who is cheating on his wife
-One who was spotted at a strip club
-One who's mother and brother are/were justices on the 9th circuit
-One who was married to a famous Hollywood celebrity
We're not content to gossip about ourselves, but also to gossip to break down the mystique of law school professors, who at the end of the day, are just as prone to indiscretions and put on their pants one leg at a time like the rest of us. Law school creates one big incestuous family is the moral of this story.
[EDIT: Because this is a state school and it is required to report their budgets to its constituents, the biggest fact of them all is that the salaries of every single professor is available online with a click of the mouse.]
But here's a concept I haven't seen talked about much, and it exists to a large degree (at least here). Students aren't content just to gossip and spread rumors about other students, but also want to gossip about the personal lives of their professors and other professors in general. "Hey, did you hear so and so about Professor [x]?" Even though I try to avoid the gossip loop, I've heard the following things about various professors:
-One who drives a Porshe
-One who drives a Jaguar
-One who drives a banged-up Accord (and earns upwards of 200K)
-One who doesn't know how to drive and the school pays for a car and driver
-One who used to date/is dating a law student
-One who dropped out of high school and has a GED
-One who is cheating on his wife
-One who was spotted at a strip club
-One who's mother and brother are/were justices on the 9th circuit
-One who was married to a famous Hollywood celebrity
We're not content to gossip about ourselves, but also to gossip to break down the mystique of law school professors, who at the end of the day, are just as prone to indiscretions and put on their pants one leg at a time like the rest of us. Law school creates one big incestuous family is the moral of this story.
[EDIT: Because this is a state school and it is required to report their budgets to its constituents, the biggest fact of them all is that the salaries of every single professor is available online with a click of the mouse.]
posted by The Fox at 10:37 AM
4 Comments:
What's more funny at my school is hearing the professors gossip about each other. They're as petty as schoolgirls. "Did you hear about So-and-so's article? like we haven't heard that argument before" or "I heard so-and-so got a new grant. Wonder whose ass he's been kissing." That type of thing.
Of course, there is still some just regular old gossip, since at Texas there is apparently not even a furrowed eyebrow over professors dating students, and I know of several profs who have wives/ex-wives that were their students.
My crim prof married a student. He taught her in 1L and I think married her shortly after grad. He jokes about it in class.
Sadly, many of these rumors turn out to be urban legends. Insist on verifying facts.
Failing that, you can always look up your profs in the Lexis property database and find out where they live, what they paid for their houses, and how much they owe.
Gossip, rumor, and conjecture are by definition not necessarily true.
Post a Comment
<< Home