DO NOT DEFAULT ON SALLIE MAE, Boys and Girls

If you didn't read this WSJ piece, please take a few minutes (and cruise those comments! if you ever wondered what angry people do all day, there you go). The main character in the story is a 41 year-0ld doctor practicing general medicine in Ohio. She took a variety of loans to finance her medical education; some of those loans were serviced and financed by SallieMae ("SM"). At some point she flaked on her debt. My favorite pieces (that should be made into t-shirts and distributed on college campuses everywhere):

• She took principal of "roughly" $250,000. The total debt has grown to $550,000.
• She defaulted on the debt, then rehabbed it, but during the course of which she was assessed separate SM fees for $53,870 and then $31,942.

Hat tip: Pilon at the WSJ.

Missing school? Free online lectures and podcasts

I was forwarded this information last week via a LinkedIn group, and thought someone out there might find it interesting. It is a collection of links that host videos of well-known professors giving lectures.

Proviso: Forward Movement makes no claim about the quality, authenticity, or permissions involved as regards the following links. (Though many of the organizations hosting the video are of fair repute, so am assuming they have addressed all the legal P and Qs).

FWIW, in no order or format apart from that contained in the original document. Enjoy!

http://academicearth.org/

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/av/index.htm

http://worldlibrary.net/Collections.htm

http://freevideolectures.com/

http://videolectures.net/

http://lecturefox.com/

http://www.ted.com/

http://ocw.nd.edu/
Courses include detailed lecture notes, a calendar of teaching assigned for each class, and a description of major assignments.

http://ocw.tufts.edu/
Offers student-made documentaries about social issues as well as a list of weekly readings.

http://itunes.stanford.edu/
Professors Martin Evans and Marsh McCall lecture on great works by Virgil to Voltaire.

http://itunes.berkeley.edu/
Berkeley's lectures online.

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/
Alternate site for Berkeley lectures.

http://scholarspot.com/

http://www.varsitynotes.com/

http://www.learnerstv.com/

Entrepreneurship podcasts:
StandfordeCorner http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1554
Harvard Business School http://www.hbs.edu/entrepreneurs/


http://oedb.org/library/features/236-open-courseware-collections

http://www.careervoyages.gov/education-videos.cfm

http://www.sba.gov/tools/audiovideo/deliveringsuccess/index.html

http://www.sba.gov/training/index.html

http://www.sba.gov/tools/audiovideo/Podcasts/index.html

http://www.openculture.com/2007/07/freeonlinecourses.html

http://www.videomd.com/featured_videos.aspx

http://www.freesciencelectures.com/

http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/

http://education.usgs.gov/common/video_animation.htm

http://www.nachi.org/advancedcourses.htm

http://education-portal.com/video_library/index.html

http://www.serve.org/nche/ibt/aw_video.php

http://www.practisinc.com/interactive/patient-education-videos.php

http://scholarspot.com/

http://www.varsitynotes.com/

http://www.learnerstv.com/

http://www.ovguide.com/education.html
Other educational video links.

Hat-tip: JD Velasquez.

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Higher Academic Honors

As my time on this blog is coming to its inevitable and very depressing end, I try to keep my eye on the Big Picture. Yesterday, legal giant Richard Posner likewise advocated a farther-reaching, cross-disciplinary approach to law and society here. In his article, Posner laments the “academification”/specialization of legal research and writing, and specifically argues that the lack of academic focus on macro-economic issues by legal scholars is “inimical to research oriented to practical solutions to current legal [and economic] problems.” Posner follows with specific legal questions (e.g.: should bankruptcy judges rewrite mortgages?).

Posner’s specific legal questions get at the following themes: should rules of contract/bankruptcy law bend in times of economic crisis, and if so, should they bend through a legislative or a judicial process? Are there constitutional limitations to how far they can bend? From a policy perspective, is it wise for rules to bend/ be subject to bending during otherwise unstable times? Posner argues that “the impact of the [ ] resolution [of these questions] on the macroeconomy” would be extremely valuable, if not essential, to lasting economic (and legal) health.

To Posner’s points I would add that consideration of these questions by legal scholars could also shed light on some traditional debates about the very nature of the legal process. Anchoring Posner’s query of whether judges ought to have the power to rewrite mortgages (as opposed to the legislature passing a bill affecting certain mortgages) in a larger, traditional legal and political debate regarding the role of judges in society could breathe new life into the latter (bigger) context, with important practical consequences for how we select Supreme Court justices, select and rate judges, manage the legislative process, and interpret or change the U.S. Constitution. Ideas beget innovation. Because reinvigorating some older debates like the one about the role and power of the U.S. Supreme Court, or the one about the respective responsibilities of judges versus legislators, or the one about the propriety and sufficiency of methods for amending the U.S. Constitution, could indeed usher in meaningful legal and political innovations that could be substantially better equipped to grapple with the complex dynamic of the contemporary world than are our current (and unchallenged) traditional notions about such topics. For these reasons, I'm with Posner: the key to lasting legal and political health is in the minds and papers of academic legal researchers and writers, who should aspire towards bigger, higher, more complex and cross-disciplinary planes.

Wednesday Laughter For the Crowd

Wilkes University, located in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, is planning to open a law school for the fall of 2011; fully operational, it will support 300 full-time and 100 part-time students. In light of this, this, and that (or, I don't know, maybe this or perhaps that), the news of yet another new law school makes me laugh (in that Jack-Nicholson-Joker-sort-of-way).

Hat Tip: Al Brophy at Faculty Lounge.

(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).