PROFESSORS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS

Here are two amusing tales from the classrooms of Yale Law School.

From Bill:

Bruce Ackerman wanted to make some point about the relationship between wealth and status in the United States. He decided to illustrate the point using the students at YLS as an exemplar. He says to his class: “Take yourselves, for example. I mean, let’s face it, you’re not a very good looking bunch. But then I see you at graduation with your partners. Presumably many of these people are your life partners. And the partners are much better looking. Why do think that is? Well, it’s because of your big earning potential.”

This story is even more amusing when told by someone who can do a good impression of Ackerman’s pompous delivery.

I was originally going to include names in the next story but I decided not to because the story contributes to an underlying rumor and I have absolutlely no idea if this rumor is true. This omission takes away about 90% of the humor value of the story but so be it.

From Student X:

Just this week, Student X was sitting through a typical Yale class dealing with constitutional minutiae and abstractions. A Yale professor was a guest speaker. Last year, this professor was the subject of an avalanche of rumors about an alleged extramarital affair with a student. So this professor - for convenience’s sake let’s call him James - is arguing that by following the constitution we honor an intergenerational promise. James says “this is how we are different from animals, animals live only in the now but as persons we can we be faithful to the past and the future.” As an example of this uniquely ‘human’ behavior, he discussed ‘Joan’ who choses not to 'live in the now' and instead honors her wedding vows. A lone student couldn’t suppress a giggle. James angrily turns to the student and says, “Why are you laughing? This isn’t meant to be autobiographical. Joan is not James!” Priceless.