October 16, 1994 was a magical day on the Rice University campus.
You see, nobody beats Rice’s football team 29 years in a row.
Nobody.
19-17
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Tag Archives: University of Texas
What I’m Reading, June 13, 2014
![RG2 (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html), CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Main_Building_at_The_University_of_Texas_at_Austin.jpg)
Propaganda machine attacking UT, Richard Leshin, San Antonio Express-News, June 11, 2014
On one hand, you have a world-ranked university with Nobel-prize winning faculty and graduates, such as Adm. William McRaven, who are literally and figuratively changing the world.
On the other you have a web of extremist special-interest groups who blanket their grassroots organizations and the lawmakers beholden to them with false information, innuendo and cherry-picked facts to paint a picture of a university that is purportedly rampant with corruption and fiscal mismanagement. Their fliers, mailers and “news” outlets feverishly churn out hyperbolic content intended to support their narrative and persuade voters and lawmakers that there is something “illegal” “rotten” and “corrupt” happening at UT.
But just because they say so, doesn’t make it true. Unfortunately, if it keeps getting reprinted, retweeted, reposted and repeated, people start believing it. But let’s look at the facts.
Sex Is Complicated, Jillian Keenan, Slate, June 4, 2014 Continue reading
This News Surprises No One
![By Unknown. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](http://crypticphilosopher.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/University_of_Texas_Law_Building_postcard_1908–1924.jpg "By Unknown. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons")
It turns out that admissions at the state’s top law school are influenced by politics. Who knew?
Some of the least-qualified graduates of the University of Texas School of Law in recent years have high-level connections in the Legislature, which may explain how they got into the prestigious law school in the first place.
A months-long Watchdog.org analysis of political influence on the admissions process at UT Law found there’s some truth, after all, to the old line about who you know mattering more than what you know. We found dozens of Longhorns who don’t know enough to be lawyers but know somebody important in the Legislature.
Two of those mediocre students are legislators themselves.
It’s not even exclusive to one party or the other.
Where I’m not sure they’re right is in their apparent correlation between qualifications to go to law school and bar exam passage rates. One could argue that those are two separate things, as least where UT Law School is concerned. Continue reading
My one regret, as a University of Texas graduate…
…is that I never took any classes in “Pubic Affairs.”
UT’s prestigious LBJ School of Public Affairs found itself in a hairy situation this weekend when the school’s commencement booklets were distributed with an hilarious unfortunate error. Despite going through “lots of layers of approval,” the booklets welcomed guests and graduates to Commencement 2012 at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Pubic Affairs. We’re sure those in attendance bristled at the error. Coupled with the school’s motto “Unlimited Possibilities,” the new name actually makes for punlimited possibilities.
Thank you, University of Texas, for being you.
Good news, everyone! UT Law has a new dean!
The announcement just came down on Wednesday: the University of Texas School of Law has chosen a new dean:
Ward Farnsworth, associate dean for academic affairs at Boston University School of Law, has been named dean of the School of Law at the University of Texas at Austin.
Farnsworth’s appointment, effective June 1, fills the position currently held by Interim Dean Stefanie Lindquist.
“As a teacher, a scholar, and a leader, Ward Farnsworth is just what UT Law needs,” said President Bill Powers. “I’m confident he’ll not only continue the tradition of first-class legal education and service to society at the University of Texas, but take the Law School to even greater heights.”
I wish Dean Farnsworth the best of luck in the wacky madhouse that is UT Law School. The building is very confusing, but people are generally happy to give directions. I presume that you will not have any specifically professorial duties in your role as dean, but I hope you don’t mind if I at least think of you as Professor Farnsworth.
Yup, this whole post was a setup for a Futurama joke. What else did you expect from me?
Photo sources: UTLaw Magazine and Wikipedia [Fair use].