Bad Glacier

I got up early on Tuesday, excited but a little anxious. This would be my first visit to New York City, and I little worried that I might get lost, pickpocketed, mugged, knifed, shot, raped, kidnapped, pushed under a subway car, lung cancer, smog poisoning, caught up in a drug deal gone bad, or recruited into a troupe of street performers. I made my way to the airport, where I discovered that my flight was delayed because of bad weather in New York. As the new departure time approached, they called another hour delay and then boarded, without warning, ten minutes later, sacrificing the small of stomach or bladder in the name of a stronger gene pool. Nature is a cruel mistress, indeed.

Eventually, I arrived at LaGuardia, only two hours late, but stuck in the beginning of the after-work traffic. This was what I expected from New York. The bus to Columbia was completely packed. My friend, a Columbia undergrad, apologized and said that Morningside Heights was a little quieter than the rest of Manhattan. He was right; over the last few stops before Columbia, the entire bus cleared out. I dropped my bag off at my friend’s apartment and he showed me around campus. Yes, Columbia actually has a campus! The area flanked by Broadway on the west, Amsterdam Avenue on the East, and running north to south from West 120th Street to 114th Street (or so) is fenced in (it looked like most of the gates stayed open all night, but were manned by security guards), and inside there are trees, bushes, patches of grass, and several small fields. It’s incredibly easy to find your way around, and calm enough that you feel comfortable wandering. It’s impressive and unexpected for a school in the middle of Manhattan.

This is Amsterdam Ave., I think.

This is Low Library, which isn’t really a library at all. But look at the grass!

Wednesday, for the most part, was free-form. I woke up earlier than expected and spent the morning walking around Morningside Heights with my camera. The school had sent out a list of classes that we could sit in on, so I worked my way over to the law school in time to catch the first-year Criminal Law class at 11:15. Professor John Coffee spent a few minutes at the beginning of class explaining a conflict between several sources of conspiracy law and reviewing the facts of the day’s case. The first student he called on struggled a little, but she stayed on the hot seat until the class was about half over. He then switched to another student (alphabetical order, maybe?) who finished out the period. This was the most hardcore Socratic method I’ve seen so far, and truthfully, it didn’t seem nearly as bad as One-L would have you believe. Professor Coffee did a good job of leading students to the points he wanted to make, and the students were respectful of the person being questioned and didn’t try to upstage each other. I came out of the class impressed.

Next, I sat in on Criminal Investigations, an upper-level class. Professor Dan Capra seemed excited about the material and was very good. He took volunteers rather than calling on people, and class proceeded smoothly. I had only been planning on going to two or three classes, but the talk on law teaching caught my eye, so I stopped in there. Professor Richard Primus, visiting from Michigan, talked about the qualities required in law professors. Basically, he said you have to be self-motivated, love the material you are researching, and able to take criticism well. He seemed interesting enough, so I went to his Constitutional Law class later in the day. It was a packed room. Professor Primus was impressive, calling on a bunch of students, seemingly randomly, to answer one or two questions each, but I admit I was pretty tired at this point and didn’t pay a whole lot of attention.

I like that Columbia allowed us to sit in on so many classes. It shows confidence in the teaching ability of their faculty members–well-deserved confidence, based on my experience. However, it was difficult (for me, at least) to meet people in between classes, so I wish they had scheduled an event early on Wednesday to allow people to get to know each other beforehand. Even so, I had met a few people by this point, so we walked around until the 5:00 tour. The law school itself is fairly compact, so the only thing I hadn’t seen before was the library, which wasn’t anything special. At least the carpet wasn’t neon green, I suppose.

After the tour was a reception. I had been hoping for dinner, but I settled for the free beer and handfuls of cheese, crackers, and bread. I’m not outgoing enough for these mingling-type-events, so it’s probably for the best that I was drinking on an empty stomach. I ended up getting a mild buzz, meeting a few people, getting tired, and going home about half an hour before the event ended (in that order).

Part 2 here.

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