OLDFall 2022 Law School Course Evaluations

acted unprofessionally. In one instance in particular, she stopped the class to make a student answer a rhetorical question ("Is this torts or Civ Pro?") meant to embarrass him for asking an earnest question she felt was off-topic. We also had a speaker who was only tangentially related to our class, but is a twitter friend of Prof. Burstein, and I feel she derived much more benefit from their speaker engagement than the class did. Additionally, many students were frustrated with how often professor Burstein would respond "It depends, lawyers don ' t speak in absolutes" to questions, and refuse to elaborate on the factors that make the issue "depend." In addition, requests for supplemental materials such as practice problems, review questions, and other materials provided by our other professors were flatly declined. Overall this class was disappointing in large part because Prof. Burstein is clearly passionate about civil law, but the issues described above prevented the class from being effective. I ' m really disappointed in how this class went. Prof. Burstein is very remarkable and a great professor when she wants to be. Sometimes it felt like she just didn ' t want to be. Additionally, right before giving us time in class to submit this evaluation she made a comment that evaluations are biased against female professors and don ' t really reflect accurate student attitudes towards a professor ' s teaching. I ' ve submitted this evaluation independent of that invalidating remark. However, I would be remiss if I did not mention that it pissed me off and made me feel like whatever I chose to wrote wouldn ' t be taken seriously. I ' ve given her the benefit of the doubt that abiding by the syllabus and her course materials, would lead to a better enjoyment of this course. It ' s disrespectful to be told my feedback would not be taken in the same good faith. I wish hypotheticals were used in class more instead of relying solely on the cases. I feel like that would have helped strengthen our understanding and comfort with the material. Before giving us class time to complete this evaluation, Professor Burstein warned us that teacher evaluations are often biased against people who are not white men. This is an obvious and uncontroversial truth. But what is not obvious, and proved quite controversial, was the timing of her comment. Everyone I ' ve spoken to about it interpreted the comment as either an attempt to soften the blow of negative comments she knew were coming, or to suggest that any negative comments were the result of our sexism. I can ' t believe I feel the need to say it, but I do not believe Professor Burstein is an ineffective teacher because she is a woman. I believe Professor Burstein is an ineffective teacher because she doesn ' t respect her students and she regularly fails to answer questions. If any of my other professors behaved in the way that she has, I absolutely would have commented on it. But all my other professors were kind, respectful, and effective. They all fostered a respectful relationship with the class, and gave me the feeling that they wanted me to succeed. Professor Burstein did neither. I hope her approach will remain a singular aberration in my law school career. Finally, but for the effective teaching of our TA, Nathan Andrews, I would be quite concerned about my prospects for

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