Racism at Harvard Law School Forum

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cavalier1138

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Re: Racism at Harvard Law School

Post by cavalier1138 » Tue Mar 12, 2019 7:34 am

I think there's nowhere near enough information for random strangers to provide you with good feedback. But if your goal is to "not make a big deal out of it," then I'd recommend not making a big deal out of it.

nixy

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Re: Racism at Harvard Law School

Post by nixy » Tue Mar 12, 2019 8:00 am

Can you get in touch with the relevant affinity group (BALSA?) and see if they have any strategies? I tend to think though that there's not going to be an easy way to address it without it becoming at least partly a big deal.

You could ask for a meeting with Sells to address it with her directly. The other option would be to go to a dean superior to Sells.

You can certainly talk to profs who you think would be helpful, if you want their input. But there's not much they're going to be able to do - they can advise you on a next step, but you will probably need to be the one to raise it.

(Random nitpick, but I would not go in calling it hearsay. Unless you're actually talking about court proceedings, it's just secondhand knowledge or rumor or the like.)

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LSATWiz.com

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Re: Racism at Harvard Law School

Post by LSATWiz.com » Tue Mar 12, 2019 12:16 pm

I'd be reluctant to judge any institution or locality based on news stories of random, unfortunate events that are likelier to be the product of random happenchance than institutional values.

nixy

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Re: Racism at Harvard Law School

Post by nixy » Tue Mar 12, 2019 12:35 pm

LSATWiz.com wrote:I'd be reluctant to judge any institution or locality based on news stories of random, unfortunate events that are likelier to be the product of random happenchance than institutional values.
The original post (now deleted) was about a letter than the OP had personally received that they believed reflected racism, so not really about news stories.

objctnyrhnr

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Re: Racism at Harvard Law School

Post by objctnyrhnr » Tue Mar 12, 2019 1:02 pm

nixy wrote:
LSATWiz.com wrote:I'd be reluctant to judge any institution or locality based on news stories of random, unfortunate events that are likelier to be the product of random happenchance than institutional values.
The original post (now deleted) was about a letter than the OP had personally received that they believed reflected racism, so not really about news stories.
Can you summarize at a high level for us?

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cavalier1138

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Re: Racism at Harvard Law School

Post by cavalier1138 » Tue Mar 12, 2019 1:04 pm

objctnyrhnr wrote:
nixy wrote:
LSATWiz.com wrote:I'd be reluctant to judge any institution or locality based on news stories of random, unfortunate events that are likelier to be the product of random happenchance than institutional values.
The original post (now deleted) was about a letter than the OP had personally received that they believed reflected racism, so not really about news stories.
Can you summarize at a high level for us?
That's literally all the OP said. Got a letter about some unspecified bad behavior, thought that it was motivated by racism, wanted to know whether to raise the issue to professors, etc.

MaxMcMann

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Re: Racism at Harvard Law School

Post by MaxMcMann » Tue Apr 23, 2019 2:26 pm

This isn't politically correct but my honest opinion is, if you don't find it intolerable then let it go.

For your own sake.

Racism is one of those things like stigma against mental illness - people claim to care but in reality you know very well that being "that guy" who raises these issues attracts a lot of negative attention your way, or at least a lot of cold shoulders.

Figure out if you want to risk this being your defining experience in law school. If you were personally offended on a level that you don't think this is something you should let go, then proceed but be aware of the risks.

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