Law School Exam 'MacGate' Over, Non-PC Students OK
A truce has been declared in a computer war that pitted Macintosh lovers against administrators of American University’s Washington College of Law.
Sparking the computer conflict was a mismatch between the law school’s preferred exam software and the beloved Mac computers that some students wanted to use to take their tests, explains Above the Law. But now the administration has promised a workable alternative to those who don’t want to become part of the standard-issue PC world.
“Because we want our students to concentrate exclusively on finals, the law school administration has determined to provide $12,000 towards the cost of laptop rental for all upper-level users of Macs that are incompatible with the exam software,” explain Dean Claudio Grossman and David Jaffe, the associate dean for student affairs, in a letter to the law school community.
Plus, a committee will be formed to determine the optimum long-term approach, the letter continues:
“Furthermore, the administration is hereby announcing that a special ad hoc working group will be created in January, with participation by all interested parties of our community, to advise the law school administration as to what exam software, if any, would satisfy the legitimate concerns of all members of our community.”
A similar computer/software conflict has been addressed at the University of Kentucky’s law school with a plan to share non-Mac PCs, as discussed in another blog post on Above the Law.
“We understand that Mac users have been greatly inconvenienced by this change,” writes Michael P. Healy, associate dean for academic affairs, in a memo to the law school community there. “We are taking steps that we hope will reduce the impact of the inconvenience being felt.”
