Is Your Law School Too Liberal?
That is the question posed by the cover story in the latest issue of The National Jurist. The article examines the right-left divide at the nation's law schools. It's not exactly hard hitting journalism, but there are a few interesting stories from law students around the country.
I think that there are definitely some law schools that have a certain "political culture". If you go to Boalt Hall (Berkeley), Vermont, or UDC, you know that you're going to be at a fairly liberal school. If you go to Mississippi (and I almost did), BYU, or Ave Maria, you know that you're going to be at a fairly conservative school. If you're a libertarian, George Mason (mostly because of its faculty) will probably strike your fancy. There's definitely some clear choices.
What about Marquette? Honestly, I don't think that our law school is very political. Most of the people that I know are at school to learn how to be a lawyer. They want instruction. I can't remember any major political controversy surrounding the law school in my almost two years here. Neither the Federalist Society nor the American Constitutional Society are very active on campus. Politics is an occasion topic of conversation, but no one is staging protests or sit-ins or anything.
As far as the political leanings of the students, I'd say that we're pretty evenly split. I don't have anything but anecdotal evidence and a quick cruise through Facebook to back up my opinion though. There are plenty of reasons why we'd be fairly balanced. I think that the two most important reasons are that we're a Catholic school and we're in the midwest. There definitely seem to be more right of center people here than there were at UWM.
I think that there are definitely some law schools that have a certain "political culture". If you go to Boalt Hall (Berkeley), Vermont, or UDC, you know that you're going to be at a fairly liberal school. If you go to Mississippi (and I almost did), BYU, or Ave Maria, you know that you're going to be at a fairly conservative school. If you're a libertarian, George Mason (mostly because of its faculty) will probably strike your fancy. There's definitely some clear choices.
What about Marquette? Honestly, I don't think that our law school is very political. Most of the people that I know are at school to learn how to be a lawyer. They want instruction. I can't remember any major political controversy surrounding the law school in my almost two years here. Neither the Federalist Society nor the American Constitutional Society are very active on campus. Politics is an occasion topic of conversation, but no one is staging protests or sit-ins or anything.
As far as the political leanings of the students, I'd say that we're pretty evenly split. I don't have anything but anecdotal evidence and a quick cruise through Facebook to back up my opinion though. There are plenty of reasons why we'd be fairly balanced. I think that the two most important reasons are that we're a Catholic school and we're in the midwest. There definitely seem to be more right of center people here than there were at UWM.
