As a Professor, Obama Enthralled Students and Puzzled Faculty

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: The Long Run
This is part of a series of articles about the lives and careers of contenders for the 2008 Republican and Democratic presidential nominations.

As a Professor, Obama Enthralled Students and Puzzled Faculty
By JODI KANTOR
Published: July 30, 2008

CHICAGO — The young law professor stood apart in too many ways to count. At a school where economic analysis was all the rage, he taught rights, race and gender. Other junior faculty dreamed of tenured positions; he turned them down. While most colleagues published by the pound, he never completed a single work of legal scholarship.

At a formal institution, Barack Obama was a loose presence, joking with students about their romantic prospects, using first names, referring to case law one moment and “The Godfather” the next. He was also an enigmatic one, often leaving fellow faculty members guessing about his precise views.

Mr. Obama, now the junior senator from Illinois and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, spent 12 years at the University of Chicago Law School. Most aspiring politicians do not dwell in the halls of academia, and few promising young legal thinkers toil in state legislatures. Mr. Obama planted a foot in each, splitting his weeks between one of the country’s most elite law schools and the far less rarefied atmosphere of the Illinois State Senate.

Before he pushed campaign finance legislation there, or outraised every other presidential primary candidate in American history, Mr. Obama marched students through the thickets of campaign finance law. Before he helped redraw the map of his own state Senate district, making it whiter and wealthier, he taught districting as a racially fraught study in how power is secured. And before he posed what may be the ultimate test of racial equality — whether Americans will elect a black president — he led students through African-Americans’ long fight for equal status.

Standing in his favorite classroom in the law school’s austere main building, sharp-witted students looming above him, Mr. Obama refined his public speaking style, his debating abilities, his beliefs....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/us/politics/30law.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

Also at link: Barack Obama’s old class materials: the syllabus and assignments for his "Racism and the Law" seminar, as well as a set of his constitutional law exams and a partial set of memos he wrote about the answers.

[Pirate Smile]

1. Very interesting. K & R.

[Frank Booth]

2. Just more skewed reporting from the NYT. It's not exactly a hit piece, but it comes close.

This opinion piece portrays Obama as lazy, egotistical and hyper-ambitious. Numerous negative quotes from the conservative Richard Epstein are prominently featured, while the equally prominent and well-respected Cass Sunstein (an Obama supporter) is not quoted once. In fact, this opinion piece has no positive quotes from any Chicago faculty members whatsoever!

Compare this to the recent New Republic article on the same subject, in which the vastly superior writer took a much more objective view of Obama's time at Chicago (and included some positive comments from colleagues):

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/news/article_full.cfm?eventid=3831

[Pirate Smile]

4. I found a comment from a student in the thread on The Caucus:

47.July 29th, 2008 7:27 pm

As a student in his seminar in 1995, I found him very humble and introspective. He did a lot of listening to the students. This was very refreshing. Many of the professors seemed to want to talk most of the time, or call on students who would parrot them.

A common practice on law exams was for the professors to refer to themselves in hypotheticals. It’s basically quirky humor to make final exams less intimidating. I don’t think that’s an example of Obama being egocentric, so much as fitting in.

Also, it should be noted that at least two of the professors quoted in this article are solid Republicans. The Chicago faculty had a number of Democrats (at least 1/3) and some definite progressives, but none were quoted in this article. Given the partisan nature of American politics, that seems very relevant to interpreting their remarks.

— Posted by Susan

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/inside-professor-obamas-classroom/

She is referring to this part of the article which, I'm sure, some are going to try to use against Obama.

As Mr. Obama’s reputation for frank, exciting discussion spread, enrollment in his classes swelled. Most scores on his teaching evaluations were positive to superlative. Some students started referring to themselves as his groupies. (And Mr. Obama, in turn, could play the star. Like every professor, he spun out elaborate hypothetical cases, but in what even some fans saw as a sign of self-absorption, Mr. Obama’s occasionally featured himself. “Take Barack Obama, there’s a good-looking guy,” he would start, introducing a twisty legal scenario.)

[Frank Booth]

7. Thanks for posting that. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who felt that this article

is overly critical. The lack of any quote at all from Cass Sunstein is shocking.

For anyone interested in this subject, I'd recommend the New Republic article posted above instead. It's much better.

[polichick]

5. Thanks - also an interesting piece!

[Pirate Smile]

6. The tidbit about Michelle cracked me up - I also grew up on Brady Bunch reruns after school.

A favorite theme, said Salil Mehra, now a law professor at Temple University, were the values and cultural touchstones that Americans, for all of their deep differences, still share. Mr. Obama’s case in point: his wife, Michelle, a black woman, loved “The Brady Bunch” so much that she could identify every one of the white family’s escapades by its opening shots.

[polichick]

8. Definitely a cultural experience shared by millions! :)

[polichick]

3. k&r - fascinating read!

[Pirate Smile]

9. kick

[Number23]

10. Isolation

I found it interesting that his colleagues in the article are quoted as being puzzled that he didn't fully participate in staff functions and events.

Why would they find it so hard to believe that the SOLE black professor of this law school would choose to spend time elsewhere?? I've been the only black person at certain jobs (hell, in certain NEIGHBORHOODS) and it really isn't that much fun.

I wouldn't be one bit surprised if the 'isolation' Obama felt during this part of his career is a primary factor in his decision to go so far so fast. I'm sure he realizes the impact his potential presidency will have on current and future generations of blacks and feels it might spur more black involvement in academia as well as politics.

[old mark]

11. I saw the article on MSN.Com - one of the conservative

professors there stated "We never changed him."
Good. Obama seems to be a true creative thinker, something that ususlly scares hell out of most professors, and nearly all conservatives. The school was a conservative bastion, and liberal students sought Obama out as a kind of refuge from arrogance.
I have attended several such colleges, and I can only imagine the relief they must have felt to be in one of his classes.

His fairness and openhandness were also mentioned.

Would make a real change from W, no?

mark


Obama for President!!!!!

[dbmk]

12. Make a few substitutions in the topic

..and we have a description of the current situation.