Spring 2022 Course Evaluations

I enjoyed his "economical approach" to TORTS! Overall, I enjoyed Professor Robertson class, and he made Torts engaging. I appreciated this class, and it will always be very memorable for me. I also found it frustrating that when students asked clarifying questions it was difficult to get a clear answer in response. It was not clear if the student’s questions were misunderstood, ignored, or deemed irrelevant. In addition, I also felt the TA spoke to the class in a condescending tone too many times. It did not make me feel welcome to ask questions for further help. At times, the TA and Professor had different answers to our questions creating confusion. At times, I felt like Professor Robertson could not hear our questions during class. I understand he is hard of hearing so we worked on speaking louder and more clearly. However, there were many times Professor Robertson could hear our questions, but could not answer of questions even when students asked the same question in different ways. It seemed like Professor Robertson did not understand our question and would answer with content unrelated to the question. There were also times when Professor Robertson used certain hypotheticals regarding battery and assault that were personally triggering for me. I had to leave the class at one point because I felt so uncomfortable. I do not believe Professor Robertson meant to make light of certain hypothetical situations, but he continually used an MBTA assault and battery hypothetical in several classes that made me feel extremely uncomfortable. Other students were also uncomfortable, but would chuckle out of embarrassment. This made me feel even more uncomfortable because it seemed to normalize traumatizing experiences. Professor Robertson is a friendly, warm person, but I found it incredibly difficult to learn the material. We spent an immense amount of time covering simple subjects at the start of the semester and then we rushed through negligence, duty, and strict liability at the end of the semester. Overall the material in this class is interesting but it was quite challenging because the instruction was not very clear. At times it was unclear what we were talking about, and it seemed like we got so off the rails that we couldn’t reel it back in. Professor Robertson is a really nice guy and he seems very sweet, but the way he teaches this class is just a bit too philosophical and makes it hard to follow. One thing I feel compelled to mention even though I know it literally does not matter and nobody cares is about our TA. He was by far the most ineffective, disrespectful, and grumpy TA I’ve had in my entire academic life. In multiple instances, he was heard talking about us and complaining about us asking too many questions (which is confusing considering that responding to our questions is in fact part of his job description). He struggled to answer questions politely (or even just neutrally), and was often visibly annoyed if the question was asked more than once. There were many times when he said that this class is really easy, and told us to "relax" or "calm down". As we write these evaluations currently in class, he is actively complaining and dismissing people who ask him questions. Again, I know that literally no one cares and that the course evaluations are meant

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