Community Briefs

Friday, February 20, 1998

Community Briefs

Leave Iraq alone, Spartacists, others say

"U.S. Get Your Bloody Hands Off Of The World" read one of
several banners strewn across Meyerhoff Park at noon on Thursday as
Spartacus, an anti-government student organization, staged a rally
in protest of military aggression in Iraq.

Impassioned speeches were given by members of both Spartacus and
the Muslim Students group, each time punctuated by a different
chant:

"Defend Iraq. Down with U.S. imperialist attacks," shouted Paco
repeatedly, the first of three speakers who refused to give his
last name.

Michelle Oberman, a senior sociology student and self-described
socialist, exhorted students to "defend the Palestinians" and "get
ROTC off campus" during her turn on the mic, saying afterward: "We
want a class struggle to defeat U.S. imperialism," adding ruefully,
"I live in this society but I’m not part of this society."

Spectators who took interest objected at times to the vitriolic
nature of the speeches, one onlooker even clapping in mock
appreciation after one of the speakers.

On balance, however, the scene was greeted with cynicism and
lack of interest. "I think it’s just kind of trendy to be anti-U.S.
policy these days," said Jason Nuesca, a third-year history
student.

Law school rankings cry wolf, study says

Annual law school rankings relied upon by both prospective
students and scouting law firms have a poor grasp of facts and
should be ignored, according to an association of 162 of the
nation’s law schools.

The rankings in question are published each year by U.S. News
& World Report. According to the nonprofit Association of
American Law Schools, the ranking report has "many serious
problems" and is "misleading and dangerous" says John Sexton, dean
of the New York University School of Law.

Sexton states that the biggest problems rankings have are that
they assume every applicant has identical needs and desires, and
the rankings "are driven by a reputation survey of persons who have
little or no knowledge of what they are ranking."

Other complaints from the Washington-based association are that
the magazine rates schools using the median scores from law school
admissions tests and also through the expenditure per student.
These methods do not take into consideration of the quality of
instruction and actually ends up penalizing a school that provides
top-quality education at a low cost per student.

The magazine said the rankings, to appear in its March 2 issue,
provide an efficient way for comparing schools based on independent
assessment and the gathering of judgments that experts have made
about each law school. The magazine also claims that the ratings
are only a guide, it is not for readers to "substitute someone
else’s ranking system for (their) own best judgment."

Protesters to march

to ‘Save the Dream’

Thousands of people are expected to attend Monday’s "Save the
Dream" march to support affirmative action and oppose Proposition
226, the proposed "Anti-Labor" initiative.

According to an L.A. County Federation of Labor press release,
Proposition 226 would make it illegal for unions to donate money to
politics without a going through a difficult process, making it
harder for union members to have their voice heard in upcoming
November elections.

Statistics say corporations outspent unions 17 to one in
donating money in the 1996 elections.

The city-wide rally is sponsored by, among others, the Rev.
Jesse Jackson, the Rainbow Coalition and the ACLU.

The march begins at 8 a.m. in front of the Los Angeles Memorial
Coliseum and ends at the Ronald Reagan State Building.

Compiled form Daily Bruin staff reports.