Comments on: Professors Cancelling Classes for Conferences

By: Crescat Sententia

Crescat Sententia — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 04:32:24 +0000

Further Thoughts on Cancelling Class...

Bobby Chesney asked whether it was appropriate for law professors to cancel classes in order to attend academic conferences. I suggested that the strong presumption ought to be "no," with allowances made for special cases. Michael Froomkin, James Joy...

By: Chris Lawrence

Chris Lawrence — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 02:41:04 +0000

Some classes are easier to cover than others; for example, I could get a colleague to teach my American government class, since I have colleagues that teach that class regularly and others have enough knowledge of the topic that they'd do fine. Get away from a lecture-based gen-ed or core class, though (or the 1L equivalent), and a sub would be pretty much useless because they simply wouldn't have the detailed knowledge to keep the course on track. Universities by and large just don't have that sort of overlap in research and teaching areas.

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:31:49 +0000

I don't remember any classes cancelled in my undergraduate or law school due to conferences. I remember just a couple cancelled due to sickness. There was one civil procedure class in law school that was cancelled, or more accurately the class was made optional and the location moved. The professor was doing a pro bono case for the ACLU and had a hearing set at the class time. It was if a march should be allowed or not, so there was a minimal amount of time to go through the steps. So the student's could see the proff in action as the alternative to the class.

By: just me

just me — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 21:03:54 +0000

I think this is one of those "it depends" type answers.

As a student, I will be honest, I don't think I would have cared about class being cancelled for a conference, and if I leaned one way or the other, it would probably be "fine" with the class being cancelled.

But as a parent, looking to pay the tuition for classes on the horizon, I don't think I am entirely okay with it, if it happens often. I think there is a fine line between proffessional development and abuse of position. I think much more than two cancelled classes a semester is problematic.

Although, when I was in college-not a large one but not a small one either, basically a midsized state university, proffessors who knew they were attending a conference often had other proffessors cover thei classes for them. Looking back, I honestly don't recall too many outright cancelled classes-there were some, but not so many I would think there had been a problem.

It has been almost 15 years since I finished my masters, so things may have changed some on campus, I know the tuition has gone up significantly since then.

By: S7

S7 — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 18:52:09 +0000

It depends if it's one of the professors Bush had hired at CIA because Rice leaked the covert WMD program at CIA.

By: PoliBlog: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts » On Cancelling Class

PoliBlog: A Rough Draft of my Thoughts » On Cancelling Class — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 18:07:37 +0000

[...] James Joyner notes a conversation that started at ProfsBlawg by Law Prof Bobby Chensney who asked on his site: Here’s a question for the students out there: does it bother you when a professor cancels a class in order to attend a conference or workshop? […] [...]

By: » Gone Hollywood

» Gone Hollywood — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

[IMG working] [IMG Outside The Beltway | OTB] Professors Cancelling Classes for Conferences Non-Monetary Endowments Name The Breed OTB Caption JamTM Star Trek Celebrates 40th Anniversary Brad Pitt: I’ll Marry When Everyone Can Nancy Reagan Tells Jim Webb Not To Use Video Of Her Husband Stop Shuler!