Students ask questions and voice concerns at the April 9 John Marshall Bar Association Town Hall meeting. (Photo by Maggie Powers)

By Jenna Box
Student writer

On April 9, the John Marshall Bar Association hosted UF Law’s latest Town Hall Meeting with four UF Law deans. Historically these meetings have led to updates like the study lounge and more swipe card entries.

Dean Robert Jerry; Alyson Flournoy, senior associate dean for academic affairs; Rachel Inman, associate dean for students; and Deb Staats, associate dean for administrative and fiscal affairs, listened and addressed concerns from students on various topics.

“It’s been really encouraging to see the administration is really taking our suggestions, our wishes and our needs into consideration,” said a JMBA representative who introduced the panel. “They’ve really done a lot to help us as a student body going forward.”

Discussion highlights included:

Facilities

New water fountains, waterless urinals, better cleanliness and an increased number microwaves in the cafeteria were among suggestions and topics of question.

Staats urged students to snap photos of cleanliness issues when spotted. She said these could be used by the custodial team to target problem areas. She also encouraged students to take advantage of the two new microwaves in the cafeteria that will soon arrive and the cleaning products — such as Sani-wipes — that will be nearby.

Library Hours

Students expressed concern about library hours during football games and exam week. Currently, the library is closed during home football games.

Jerry empathized with students on this issue and said that options to make sports-infused weekends more study-friendly would be pursued, but he said that tailgating near the law school on game days poses a risk to the interior of the building if it were to be open, based on recent experiences with the restrooms that have been open on game days.

Students also requested later hours for a longer period near exam weeks and in general.

According to figures recorded by the library during past extended hours, on average only up to 10 people were in the library at the 4 a.m. hour, and about 20 during the 2 a.m. hour, said Claire M. Germain, associate dean for legal information. She also noted that staffing the library during these hours posed a problem.

For those who prefer to study late, space is currently available via swipe entry in Bruton-Geer Hall, Jerry said, and the possibility of extra classroom space will also be considered.

The planned extended hours — 7:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. — for the library began April 12, and will continue through May 2.

Curriculum and Registration

Regarding recent registration concerns, the course schedule is currently available in an Excel spreadsheet and in a PDF on the website, Flournoy said.

Flournoy also mentioned the possibility of online career guides that would list courses available to students who want to pursue a specific legal path, such as construction real estate law or sports law. Oftentimes, classes that benefit a certain type of law study aren’t necessarily labeled in a way that makes it obvious, she said.

The valuable Pretrial Practice class will be evaluated to decide if it should be expanded to a four-credit course, as students had suggested, or whether the topic warranted more than one course.

Finally, where students identify class conflicts involving a registration priority course, she advised checking both fall and spring schedules during registration. The schedules have been designed to include multiple sections of these classes.

Externships

Currently, law firms are not allowed as externships at UF Law. Jerry called this rule “a relic of the past,” even though, he said, a majority of law schools currently have the same rule as UF.

Because the externship has become a stepping stone to the job market, this is something the administration and faculty will need to look at to provide opportunities to connect new forms of skills training with the private sector, Dean Jerry said.

All input is appreciated by the administration, and students are encouraged to pass along further questions or concerns to the JMBA office.

Administrators Alyson Flournoy, Debra Staats, Dean Robert Jerry and Rachel Inman address student issues and concerns in a town hall meeting last week. (Photo by Kim Burroughs)

Last week, the John Marshall Bar Association hosted UF Law’s latest Town Hall Meeting where administrators addressed concerns and answered questions raised by students about topics that included discussion of a student lounge where students can relax and socialize, exam schedules and the ongoing quest for the perfect hot food option in the cafeteria.

Dean Robert Jerry began the meeting with a few announcements, beginning with the continuing news of the difficult legal job market. He said there are some signs of improvement recently, but it continues to be a challenge.

“I can assure you our alumni have been extremely helpful in trying to help our students find meaningful opportunities after graduation, and our career development office has worked very hard on this,” he said.

He also addressed the recent U.S. News & World Report graduate school rankings in which UF Law placed 48th overall and 25th among public schools, and noted that although UF Law applications are down, the downswing tracks with the national trend.

The first topic addressed the addition or reconfiguring of a student lounge area. Associate Dean for Administrative and Fiscal Affairs Debra Staats listened to students’ concerns that the current area downstairs in Bruton-Geer Hall is not conducive to relaxing and socializing. Options include changing the second-floor Bruton-Geer study area to a more traditional student lounge with couches and televisions or computer monitors for students to use. Staats said administrators will take this into consideration and continue to explore options.

Other topics included the installation of a card swipe on the second floor of Bruton-Geer Hall, which is currently on the way; nonworking electrical outlets in the library cubbies; and the possibility of getting an ATM on campus.

Staats said all the electrical outlets were working at the end of the fall semester and any that are not working will be repaired. Staats also said Wells-Fargo, which the University of Florida maintains a contract with, does not believe there would be enough traffic to merit installation of an ATM on the law school campus.

Associate Dean for Students Rachel Inman said a request was made to extend the hours of the cafeteria Starbucks during the exam period. She said administrators will be mindful in trying to take the exam schedule into consideration in relation to the hours the Starbucks will operate.

Inman then drew some laughs from the crowd as she read a student request about the hot food lunch option.

“Someone said ‘I love the hot lunch option, however, could we mix it up a little more? One time we had Panda Express instead of Pollo Tropical and that was great, thank you.’ And then they say, “but by the way can we please have Chic-fil-A?’”

The topic elicited a wide variety of opinions, ranging from changing Starbucks to a Subway, to having a Starbucks-Subway combination, to expanding the capabilities of the food service area for an expanded menu with items like french fries and other hot items.

Inman said another survey will be conducted before the end of the semester to help determine what will best meet the needs of the students, but any decisions will have to be cleared through Aramark, which is responsible for the food vendors on campus.

Inman also addressed concerns of reducing exam scheduling conflicts and time in between exams and said administrators will continue to work toward an option that will work best for the most students.

The meeting, which has been held each semester since fall 2009, is intended to allow UF Law administrators and students to have direct communication while addressing student concerns, raising new questions and fostering a healthy and productive discussion about how to improve the law school.

The panel consisted of Dean Robert Jerry, Associate Dean for Student Affairs Rachel Inman, Associate Dean for Administrative and Fiscal Affairs Debra Staats and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Alyson Flournoy.

Jerry began the meeting by addressing the changing world of legal education and looking at what UF Law is doing to keep up with those changes.

“We have, for about two years now, been working on curriculum reforms here at the law school and in the fall of ’12, the 1Ls will have some changes to the curriculum,” Jerry said.

He pointed out that UF Law has already been a leader in legal skills with the mandatory legal drafting class for second-year students.

He also discussed the difficult job market and pointed out that the Center for Career Development has a new assistant dean — Pascale Bishop — and the staff and program have been completely revamped.

“We are working hard to try to ramp up our support for you in that job search and I hope you will take advantage of the services we offer,” Jerry said.

Next, Inman relayed the results of a survey regarding new food options in the cafeteria. She said 440 students and 99 faculty and staff members participated in the Survey Monkey survey.

The results showed that 86.8 percent of participating students chose Wednesday as their top day to have an alternate food option available at the law school; the second choice was Tuesday. For faculty and staff, the top choice was Tuesday and the second choice was Monday. The top pick by students for food was Pollo Tropical — followed by Subway — while faculty and staff chose Chili’s, also followed by Subway.

“When you return the week of Jan. 7, as the survey mentioned, our goal is to have an online ordering process,” Inman said. “You can order and pay online … that day, and then the food will be delivered at a specific time and you will come to a particular place and pick it up.”

Inman said the new system will be tried out at the beginning of the semester, then send out another survey to see how it can be improved or refined. All current food options in the cafeteria will still be available.

Staats and Flournoy addressed facilities and curriculum questions, respectively.

Staats said the administration is looking into adding a card-swipe option to the second-floor entrance to Bruton-Geer Hall since it is used more frequently by students now that the lockers are there. The process has been cost-prohibitive in the past because the door is a non-standard size and the glass would have to be replaced, but she will look into it again.

She said another popular question brought up by students is whether they could get an additional electric outlet in the cubby desks in the library. Staats said it is not possible because the building is “already maxed out as far as the amount of electricity we have going in it.”

In response to curricular questions, Flournoy said the strategic planning committee is “just beginning to look at skills in the upper level.” She also said the school’s grading curve policy will be clarified on the website in the future.

Finally, Jerry addressed distracting noise and overcrowding in the library.

“The bottom line is we absolutely want you to have a comfortable space to do your studies all the time the library is available and we’re trying to make sure it’s available at times when you need it,” he said.

UF Law students and Elizabeth Outler, associate director of the Legal Information Center, also got involved in the conversation.

Several students complained that much of the noise and overcrowding in the library is a result of undergraduate students who come to the law library to study.

Jerry said access to the law library cannot be restricted, but measures were discussed on how to minimize distractions and overcrowding.

The meeting closed with a round of questions from students. Topics addressed included the possibility of extending the reading period at the end of the semester, scheduling conflicts in class offerings and criteria for admitting transfer students.

From left, Deans Rachel Inman, Robert Jerry, William Page and Debra Staats addressed student questions at the March 30 Town Hall meeting. (Photo by Nicole Safker)

By Nicole Safker (2L)

The John Marshall Bar Association held a Town Hall meeting March 30 in the Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center to provide an open forum where students could address concerns related to all aspects of their experience at the UF Levin College of Law.

Dean Robert Jerry, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs William Page, Associate Dean for Administrative and Fiscal Affairs Debra Staats and Associate Dean of Students/Interim Dean for Career Development Rachel Inman, sat on the panel.

Dedicated Bar prep course
UF Law does not currently offer a dedicated Bar prep course, but the American Bar Association now allows schools to offer one tailored to the state exam that the majority of students will take. The college is willing to entertain the idea, but the administration believes that the private Bar prep courses that virtually all students take serve student needs. Dean Page noted the high correlation between grades and Bar passage rates and emphasized the need for students to study and do well in their classes.

Most Bar subjects already offered, more Bar-tested subjects available
Bar-tested courses that are already offered at UF Law include Florida Constitutional Law, Florida Civil Procedure, Florida Criminal Procedure, Federal Constitutional Law, Estates & Trusts, Business Entities, Property, Evidence, Torts, Advanced Torts, Medical Malpractice, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Contracts. Contracts curriculum will expand beyond Sales to cover Articles 3 and 9 to compensate for the addition of that material to the Florida Bar Exam. The college will also add Remedies in Equity, which will be taught by Professor Justin Nast and will be available in the fall semester. Dean Page stressed that while students should take the Bar Exam into account when registering for classes, it should not be their primary focus.

U.S. News & World Report rankings
UF Law tied for 24th among public law schools and tied for 47th overall in the U.S. News & World Report rankings released last month. The UF Law Graduate Tax Program continues to rank first among publics and was second overall this year. The Environmental and Land Use Law Program rose to sixth among publics and 13th overall and dispute resolution ranked at seventh among publics and 19th overall. Prior to the rankings’ release, Dean Robert Jerry expected UF Law to rise as a result of the higher LSAT scores of the incoming class, better financials and better placement numbers. But the ranking methodology used by U.S. News changed significantly two days before rankings were released. Students in LL.M. programs are now considered “unemployed” for purposes of placement. Since UF Law has a significant number of JD students who go on to pursue their LL.M., this change hurt the law schools’ rank and resulted in the school remaining at roughly the same level as last year.

Professional Responsibility
UF Law is considering offering a more code-intensive and substantive Professional Responsibility course closer to the end of the second year, when most students take the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE). The 1L course would then be replaced with a more general professionalism and ethics course and would drop to two credits.

Legal Research and Writing
Now that Legal Research and Writing is a graded subject, some students have expressed concerns that it would be inappropriate to receive grades for preliminary drafts since the primary purpose of those drafts is to serve as a learning experience. Looking ahead, the Strategic Planning Committee has considered making Legal Research and Writing a four-credit course and devoting the extra classroom time to advanced legal research techniques for 1Ls.

Mandatory grading mean
In response to student concerns about grade inflation, Dean Page is willing to revisit the issue of the placement of UF’s mandatory mean GPA of 3.25.

Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center
The second-floor construction is expected to be completed mid-July. The second floor will contain two new smaller court/classrooms, both with judge benches and one with jury box, as well as a collaborative space for teams to use while preparing for competitions. The second floor will also be the new home of the Legal Research and Writing Department, and the Environmental and Land Use Law Program will move into LRW’s previous space on the second floor of Bruton-Geer Hall.

Center for Career Development
A professional search firm, Spellman & Johnson, has been hired to find the next assistant dean for career development. That search is expected to be completed by June or July and the new assistant dean should be hired by the end of the summer. Dean Jerry stressed, however, that finding a high quality applicant will take precedence over any time constraints placed on the search. Career Development offices are moving to the ground floor of Holland Hall into the prior Student Organizations offices. This move will place Career Development “front and center” and should facilitate better employer relations and increased visibility. Student Affairs Dean Inman will continue to serve as interim until the new dean is in place.

Communications Office
In early summer, the Communications Team will move into prior Career Services space on the second floor of Bruton-Geer Hall to provide more workspace for the department.

New faculty offices
A suite of offices for new faculty will be built in the Communications Suite on the second floor of Holland Hall once communications personnel have moved to Bruton-Geer. This will be the final step of the relocations and will fulfill the ultimate goal of providing more faculty office space.

Bathrooms
In response to student inquiries about replacing bathroom faucets and water fountains, Dean Staats looked into it and the UF Physical Plant Division responded that these fixtures are replaced on an as-needed basis. The issue of the odor in ground-floor library bathrooms is the result of sewer-pipe construction. Physical Plant personnel is currently applying a chemical treatment to absorb odor and will increase application of that chemical if the odor continues.

Building exteriors
Pressure washing of brick and concrete on buildings and sidewalks has been postponed twice because of timing and weather issues, but will be taken care of over the summer.

Cafeteria
The cafeteria is getting a make-over, including new lighting, furniture, walls and floors. The new look will extend to the lounge area on other side of the wall where student organizations used to be. Carts containing microwaves will be available in the renovated space. In regards to additional power outlets in the table area, Dean Staats said the construction would be too cost-prohibitive.

Library
Library hours will be extended for spring exams a week earlier than last year, and will result in the library being open until 4 a.m. The issue of white noise emanating from the speakers in the quiet reading room was actually a HVAC system problem that has been resolved.

Food and drink on campus
The issue of having a hot food option for students on campus is still not resolved. The school purchased a “Turbo Oven,” which was not as successful as hoped, possibly because people don’t like the vegetables on their sandwiches to be heated. Dean Inman will work with vendors on main campus like Panda Express and Subway to possibly bring a limited menu for advance orders of food. Per student suggestion, Dean Inman will also consider bringing a set amount of a vendor’s most popular offerings to be made available a la carte.

Campus ATM
Wachovia has decided that there is not enough student traffic on the law school campus to merit the installation of an ATM machine.

Jerry started the discussion by sharing the recent results from the February Bar exam, which were much improved from last year’s results. The pass percentage for UF first-time takers was 81.1 percent (30/37) against an overall pass rate of 72.2 percent (586/812). Another product of the school’s hard work was the employment status of the UF Law class of 2009. As of February 2010, for graduates who wish to work and who are working or those pursuing a graduate degree from the class of 2009, the employment status was 99.5 percent; all but three members of last year’s graduating class are employed.

Jerry was pleased to be able to report the good news, and was very grateful for the help given by past graduates of the law school.

“Our alumni really stepped up in finding and helping create those positions for our students,” Jerry said.

Much of the meeting was devoted to issues that had already been raised, and while the solutions to many of them were still being sought, the issue of paying for exam-taking software had been solved.

Previously, students who wanted to use their computers to take exams were forced to pay a fee in the range of $25 to register the ExamSoft program. Jerry said that fee would soon be taken care of by the school.

“Starting next year, and I think this is the right answer, we are going to use private unrestricted gifts to pay for a school-wide licensing fee,” he said.

Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Bill Page spoke on a range of issues, but most of his time was spent answering students’ questions about scheduling. Scheduling issues ranged from what to do with the noon period that is usually free, the possibility of more classes focusing on Florida law, and the possibility of a certificate program in criminal law.

Assistant Dean for Career Development Linda Calvert Hanson spoke to the school’s efforts to help students get jobs, externships and other opportunities. While Career Development does much to aid students, being perhaps the most rural of Florida law schools can make things more difficult, Hanson said. “One of the challenges that we have is the geographic limitations of Gainesville.”

Finally, Associate Dean for Students Rachel Inman discussed a few more issues, including the idea of introducing hot lunches to the cafeteria. Solutions discussed included getting the current vendor to add items, or have main campus vendors bring sandwiches or other items to the law school. While a final solution has not been reached, Inman said that they are committed to finding one, saying “We’ll do our best to have some sort of schedule for hot food options for you in the fall.