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Office of Academic Administration and Student Affairs

Asst. Dean Stephen D. Sowle

Week of August 18, 2008
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General Announcements:

Student Organization Fair.
The annual Student Organization Fair will be held on Wednesday, September 3, from 11:00-1:00 (for day students) and from 4:00-6:00 (for evening students) in the second and third floor atriums. All students are invited.

Disability Resources. Chicago-Kent College of Law provides individuals with disabilities reasonable accommodations to participate in law school activities, programs, and services. Individuals with disabilities requiring an accommodation to participate in an activity, program or service (for example, exam accommodations or classroom accommodations) should contact Jenna Moroney, Chicago-Kent's Director of Student Services (6-5282 or jmoroney@kentlaw.edu or office 310A).

To Entering Students:

Welcome to Chicago-Kent!
For those of you starting your first year, you chose a terrific law school and we are pleased that you are joining our community. You have an exciting several years ahead of you.

What My Office Does. In my capacity as Assistant Dean for Academic Administration and Student Affairs, I have responsibility for a number of areas that affect your life as a student. I supervise the Registrar's office on scheduling your courses, administering your exams, and maintaining your academic records. I oversee the Student Services office on Orientation, academic and personal counseling of students, and applying the school's academic regulations. More generally, my job is to make sure that your life at the Law School remains as free from administrative hassles as possible. If you think I can be of help, please call me (906-5282), come by my office (320C), or e-mail me (ssowle@kentlaw.edu). If I'm not the right person to help you, I should be able to point you in the right direction. My door is open without appointment, so long as I am not otherwise occupied when you drop by.

Orientation Week.
The final schedule for Orientation week will be distributed in the packets you receive when you arrive on August 18. In addition, the Admissions Office has created a special web site for entering students with links to lots of useful information. (A password is required for access to this site; contact the Office of Admissions if you don't have a password.)

Academic Support Program.
You will receive information during Orientation about the Academic Support Program (ASP), which is designed to assist first-year students in developing the skills needed to succeed in law school. One component of the program is weekly small group sessions focusing on skills development in the context of each of your Fall doctrinal courses. We will be sending invitations to selected students before the start of the regular semester to join these sessions. If you do not receive an invitation and would like to petition to join them, click here for the petition form, which is due to me no later than Friday, August 29. Information about the program and study resources is available on the ASP web site.

CTA U-Pass Program.
Chicago-Kent is a participant in the Chicago Transit Authority's U-Pass program. The U-Pass is a discount fare card allowing unlimited rides on all CTA buses and trains. All full-time day students will receive a U-Pass card valid from August 25 (the first day of classes) through December 22 (the end of Fall exams). New cards will be issued at the start of the Spring semester. The charge for the card will appear on the semester bill for each full-time student. Due to restrictions imposed by the CTA, the program is not currently available to evening students or part-time day students. For more details, see our U-Pass FAQ, and visit the CTA's U-Pass web site.

To Returning Students:

Welcome Back!
I hope you had an enjoyable summer and that you have a successful and productive year. If you would like to see me with a question, problem, or suggestion, please call me (906-5282), come by my office (Suite 320C), or e-mail me (SSOWLE).

Fall 2008 Semester Information.
The Fall 2008 Term Information page has most of the information you will need in advance of the start of the Fall semester - click here, or go to the main Student Portal page and click on the Fall '08 link under "Academic term information." Print copies of many of the documents described below are available outside the third floor cafeteria.

Initial Reading Assignments and Course Materials.
Reading assignments for the first week of the Fall semester are available on the Fall 2008 Term Information page. (Please note: The list of initial assignments has been updated since it was first posted, and it may be updated again if we receive additional assignments.) Not all professors submit initial assignments, so do not be concerned if there is no listing for one or more of your Fall courses.

If you have not yet returned to school, you may ask the bookstore to hold your Fall course materials for you until you arrive, or for an extra fee you may request that the books be mailed to you. If you would like to take advantage of either of these options, stop by the bookstore or call 312/906-5605. In addition, you may order your course materials over the Internet by clicking on the Bookstore link on the Student Portal page.

Course Information Updates.
Course information updates for Fall 2008 classes are available on the Fall 2008 Term Information page.

Revised Fall Schedule (with Classroom Assignments).
A revised copy of the Fall 2008 Schedule of Classes, including classroom assignments, is available on the Fall 2008 Term Information page. Classroom assignments will also be posted in the front lobby later this week.

Adding and Dropping Courses.
You may add an open course without special permission until the end of the first week of classes. During the second week, however, you may add an open course only with permission of the instructor. You may not add a course after the second week of the semester. You may withdraw from any course except a required course, a clinical course, Law Review, Moot Court, or Intensive Trial Advocacy at any time prior to the date of the final exam or final paper (see § 3.10(c) of the Student Handbook). There is no tuition penalty if you drop a course during the first two weeks of classes. You will not receive a tuition refund, however, if you drop a course after the second week of classes.

Exam Schedule. A copy of the Fall 2008 exam schedule is available on the Fall 2008 Term Information page. The Student Handbook requires that you take your finals at the times scheduled unless you have an exam conflict (as defined below), or you have a "serious illness or other extraordinary or compelling reason" beyond your control. A Final Exam Reschedule Form will be posted later this semester through Web for Students.

A student is deemed to have an "exam conflict" if he or she has two exams at the same time, or has two or more exams within 24 hours (e.g., exams at 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., or at 6:00 p.m. and 1:15 the following afternoon). A conflict does not exist if two exams are scheduled exactly 24 hours apart (e.g., exams at 8:30 a.m. one morning and 8:30 a.m. the next morning).

Trial Advocacy Section Assignments.
If you are registered for Trial Advocacy 1 or Trial Advocacy 2 for the Fall semester, a list of section assignments is available on the Fall 2008 Term Information page. Please note: If your section meets at the Daley Center, please be sure to bring your Kent ID card with you, as you may be required to show it before being allowed to enter.

Bookstore Hours.
The Bookstore's hours for the Fall semester are available on the Fall 2008 Term Information page.

2008-2009 Academic Calendar.
The Academic Calendar for 2008-2009 is linked to this page.

Consider Taking Appellate Courts & Procedure.
[From Prof. Steinman] All through law school you read appellate court decisions, and perhaps you plan to litigate. How much do you know about appellate review: About who can appeal, when, where, and how?; about the scope of review available before final judgment? Do you understand what the various standards of review really mean, and what standard the courts will apply to what issues? Are you sure of the degree to which the trial court record and the issues you've raised – or failed to raise – in the trial court limit what you can argue on appeal? Have you pondered when appellate courts feel free to make new law and when they leave law making to legislatures? or the role of intermediate appellate courts in lawmaking? Have you considered how the volume of litigation has altered how appellate courts operate (their internal procedures, their use of staff, the very structure of appellate court systems), and the implications of those changes for how appellate counsel must work? Would you like to hear directly from a Seventh Circuit judge about how things work in this circuit? Do you know much about U.S. Supreme Court jurisdiction and certiorari policy, or the role of amicus curiae? If these questions interest you, consider taking Appellate Courts & Procedure, Mon., Tues., Thurs. 10:40-11:35 pm. We'll be using materials by Meador, Baker, & Steinman.

Spring 2009 Preliminary Schedule.
The preliminary class schedule for the Spring 2009 semester is available on the Fall 2008 Term Information page. Please note: This schedule is only preliminary; there will be additions to the class list and other changes made before the schedule is finalized. The final Spring 2009 schedule will be issued later this semester, when registration for Spring classes will also take place.

Fall U-Pass Distribution.
Fall U-Passes for upper-level students will take place in the front lobby at the following times:

*Thursday, August 21, 11:00am - 1:00pm, Front Lobby.
*Friday, August 22, 11:00am - 1:00pm, Front Lobby.
*Monday, August 25, 11:00am - 2:00pm, Front Lobby.

After Monday, August 25, you may pick up your U-Pass from the Registrar's office.

All full-time day students (determined by your official division status, not by the number of credit hours you take in a particular semester) will be issued U-Passes valid from August 25 (the first day of classes) through December 22 (the end of Fall exams). New cards will be issued at the start of the Spring semester. The charge for the card will appear on the semester bill for each full-time student. If you registered for Fall classes late or do not have a picture in our ID system, we will not have a U-Pass for you. Please let us know that you qualify for a U-Pass and, after we confirm your status, we will order one for you. For more details about the U-Pass program, see our U-Pass FAQ, and visit the CTA's U-Pass web site.

Spring 2008 CALI Award Winners.
The CALI Excellence for the Future Award, sponsored by the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, is given to the student or students who receive the highest grade in each section of each course. The CALI award winners for Spring 2008 courses are available by clicking here. If a section or a course is not listed, that means the professor elected not to give a CALI award, or we have not yet heard from the professor. Congratulations to all of you who received an award - you should be proud of your achievement.

London Law Consortium: Brochures Available. Chicago-Kent offers a semester of legal study in London each Spring semester as part of a consortium with six other schools. If you are interested in the London Law Consortium for the Spring 2008 semester, please pick up a copy of the program brochure from Denise Lang outside my office (Suite 320C). Spaces in the program will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. We must submit to the program administrators completed applications from all of our participating students no later than Tuesday, September 7, 2007. If you wish to discuss the program in more detail, contact Professor David Rudstein (drudstei@kentlaw.edu; 312/906-5354).

Joke of the Week. "Why do they call it a 'building'? It looks like they're finished. Why isn't it a 'built'?" (Jerry Seinfeld)

Poem of the Week. This week's poem is "How to Be a Poet," by "Wendell Berry.
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