However, a few statements in their email are worth addressing:
On March 19 [sic], someone placed anonymous flyers in student lockers asking BHSA for transparency in elections. The email reproduced in the flyer was not sent by a BHSA board member. The meeting alluded to was not sanctioned by BHSA, was not attended by anyone who works on BHSA elections, and was not supported with BHSA funds.
Moreover, the BHSA email oddly blasts the anonymous flier-er for "publish[ing] the personal address of one of our board members," and alludes to his interest in privacy. A simple search of WhitePages.com reveals that the BHSA president's address is not, in fact, such a secret after all.
Finally, I would like to dispel any rumors that Berkeley Law Blog is in any way responsible for the fliers left in people's lockers. We folks here at BLB prefer to rabble-rouse from the privacy and comfort of our secret underwater command post.
16 comments:
The e-mail was not sent by a former BHSA Board Member. I'm not quite sure what list of former BHSA Board Members you are looking at, but that person has never been on the BHSA Board. A committee, maybe. But not the Board.
Also, I believe what they're trying to say is that the Co-Pres does not 'work' on the elections in the sense that the Secretary is the person who advertises the elections, oversees the submission of candidate statements, runs the voting table, and counts the ballots (in the presence of either the Dean of Students or the Director of Student Services).
I thought the whole email was well thought out and tactfully stated, except that obnoxious, whiny part about "exposing" the BHSA President's address...
You're right, 6:36PM. I was looking at the wrong person. Mea culpa.
agreed it's a good response. the question is why we haven't been getting similar updates before now.
what is the BHSA?
Boalt Hall Student Association
The response was tactful.
But you you ("we at berkeley law blog" *blech*) are a bunch of wankers for giving that flyer so much credibility.
The flyer was an anonymous attack by Boalties, against Boalties. It was uncollegial, hurtful to the folks at BHSA (no I am not one of them) and most of all, just plain un-Boalt.
Just like the way you seized the opportunity to stir the pot sheerly to generate traffic at this website. I realize you will probably give some bullshit line about reporting or about the value of diverse opinions or about . . . well, frankly I don't know what kind of self-righteous and self-absorbed blather you'll pull out of the hat this time, but if you are honest with yourselves you'll agree: this blog is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
We are all on the same team here at Boalt. If you want to run a boalt blog that's cool, but make sure you deliver your content with the kind of integrity that reflects well on our school and our population instead of makes us look like a bunch of douche bags in any google search. I hate to say it, but you could take a page from Nuts and Boalts' book -- wankers though they can be at times, at least they adhere to some basic standards instead of seizing the opportunity to anonymously sling shit for some kind of personal celebrity kick.
Okay. Fire away. Tell my why I am wrong. Tell me why I am narrow minded. Tell me why whatever bullshit you think about what you are doing on this website justifies your gutless actions. But realize you reflect on the school, and I don't appreciate you making us look like a bunch of classless jerks, and I don't appreciate you facilitating cowardly anonymous attacks by Boalties on Boalties . . . oh, and I don't really believe that you weren't involved.
Get some class. A little dab goes a long way.
8:15: I thought this link was dead, but that was hilarious! Write another one!
god forbid a blog devoted to Boalt news should have the audacity to post about something interesting and relevant that happened at Boalt! We'd all be much better off ignoring the stuff that actually happens at Boalt and instead just formed a giant circle jerk and talk about how tolerant and warm and fuzzy Boalt is.
Maybe we can get BHSA funding for our giant circle jerk? Lotion, tissues, and glossy photocopies of the 1L section of the facebook aren't cheap, you know.
In response to March 20, 2008 6:36 PM: The woman who sent out the original email on that flier is actually a 3L on the admissions committee (one of those committees where BHSA appoints either their friends or people who pass their litmus test of political ideology). She also heads up the Coalition for Diversity, which discretely heads admit day – an event which should be for all Boalt students to plan who are interested. The Coalition for Diversity handpicks students to be on the admit day panel and coordinates all of the social events that day through the identity groups and generals – that's right – they don't seek the input of the full student body (like the flier mentioned about BHSA). By the way, has anyone noticed that the people on the admit day panel are always students of color interested in public interest? I don't think I've seen a single person on there interested in working for a firm, which is what a majority of our classmates end up doing, right?
Last year's student panel of ~six Boalt students didn't include a single student who:
- wasn't "brown"
- was interested in IP
- wanted a firm job upon graduating.
What I think is really scandalous is that only identity group events are scheduled in the evening. When I was an admit, they only publicized the "diversity party" to non-white students. At least some admits just left Berkeley that evening, because they thought there was nothing going on at all.
last year they publicized the diversity party to students who weren't even admitted, haha (http://www.nowpublic.com/berkeley_law_welcomes_minority_admits_uninvites_them_15_minutes_later)
Response to March 31, 2008 11:22 PM: You bring up a really good point. I felt the same way during admit day. In fact, I almost didn't come to Boalt b/c I was so turned off by the fact that there seemed to be no one interested in anything but identity groups and journals. And I'm a "person of color." I'm glad I did come here b/c it turns out that only a very small group of people are like that, and there's room here for lots of interests. Is there anything we can do to change admit day then? Or are people outside the Coalition for Diversity and BHSA just too busy (or too complacent) to do anything about it?
so after all this bullshit did anyone actually run against the BHSA-approved slate this year? If not, fuck you anonymous for wasting our time with your fliers.
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