SoCal Minds

Top undergrads picked for Latino leadership initiative

From Loyola Marymount

Take 30 top undergrads from across the country, including a half dozen from Westchester, put them together with great profs from Stanford, Georgetown and elsewhere for a week of study at one of the nation's best known and most influential public policy institutions and what magic might result? A Lion law school alum and university trustee has high hopes that by teaching as many as 50 collegians annually about making decisions, negotiating and being aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as exposing them to top-flight mentors and following up with them that a new institute he has helped fund at Harvard's Kennedy School will launch a wave of new Latino leaders. Hmm, with all nine Supreme Court justices likely to be alums of just two Ivy institutions, guess it's inarguable why program benefactor Walter Ulloa, chairman and CEO of the Santa Moinca-based, Spanish-language media powerhouse Entravision Communications, went East and aimed for that Harvard cred when aiming to cultivate tomorrow's leaders among one of the nation's fastest growing demographic groups?

Lion alum and trustee helps launch new program -- at Harvard

Click here for more info from Kennedy School on Latino Leadership Institute

Yawn, a certain magazine scores grad programs

From Caltech et al

Couple of guys, a pitcher of beer and pizza before them, pass through the better part of an evening, shooting the breeze in the pre-season, jawing and joshing about the rankings of their favorite sports teams. What do the prognostications about where franchises eventually will finish, too many long months in the future, really mater? Guess it's suitable fodder for guy talk, humanizing chatter, whatever to call the list and ratings fascination. So small cheers to the various schools around the area for mostly just taking note of the latest, all-important to some lists by U.S. News & World Report of graduate programs across the country with ostensible scores attached. And, just to keep repeating, here's a link, too, to a recent Bruin magazine piece that offers some perspective on the various 'rankings' of academic programs.

In Pasadena, a modest taking note of top rankings in three areas

For Trojans, emphasis on med school and its rise on the list

In Santa Barbara, spotlight goes to attention-grabbing physics program

In Irvine, a brief nod to a jump by the business school 

Drucker positions itself as a top California business school

In Malibu, the law school takes the spotlight

In Orange, pleasure over a second-tier listing for 15-year-old law school

In downtown, a law school celebrates its new highs on the list

Bruin magazine offers perspective on publications' institutional rankings

The power, influence of sound, moving images

From Claremont Graduate University, CSUN & CSULA

Participating in a lively, intriguing discussion Tuesday night  -- thanks to the terrific folks at the Loyola Law School -- over prosecutors' disputed use of a documentary filmmaker's work and labor of love in the death-penalty phase of a Los Angeles homicide case offered yet another poignant reminder about the power of sound, music and moving images and the amount of musical and movie-making talent that abounds in LA. Apropos of that not particularly profound revelation, here's pointing one and all to the commission of a Southland composer by the Boston Pops to commemorate the Bay State's legendary Kennedy brothers, a fun look at a toe-tapping musical mashup that emanated from East LA and a PSA that not only spotlights the talents of some aspiring film folks but is winning them considerable attention.

Boston Pops tap composer in Claremont for Kennedy tribute

In East LA, snappy tunes in Espanol with Japanese singer-accordion player

PSA on cyber crime offers showcase for young movie-makers

 

Law schools ranked by number of 'Super Lawyers'

From Loyola Law School

As a publishing niche, the folks who dreamed up the glossy Super Lawyers supplements deserve credit: They've created their own system that lets lawyers nominate peers, who then get subjected to some subjective scrutiny that results in the recognition of a legal elite in advertising-rich, magazine-style publications across the country. Look at the listed "Super Lawyers" or "Rising Stars" and their cred can be hard to argue. And now the brand and marketing has been extended to a law school ranking system, based upon how many of the "Super Lawyers" attended what institution. By this measure, the Bruins are the most notable Southern California law school, ranking No. 14 nationally, with Loyola at No. 29, USC at No. 41, Southwestern at No. 82., Whittier Law at No. 159 and the University of LaVerne College of Law at No. 169. In this ranking, the top three are Harvard, Michigan, UT Austin. An interesting multimedia aspect of the Super Lawyer law school rankings: the capacity to see the Super Law alums from each school.

Loyola Law touts its 'Super Lawyer' ranking (which puts it ahead of USC)

OK, law school alums: Click here to argue about the full list of law school rankings 

Illegal Bias in Boalt, Bruin, UW Admissions?

From Loyola Law School

Have law schools at UCLA, UC Berkeley and the University of Washington -- to name just three -- set themselves up for new legal action over their admission practices, particularly when it comes to minorities? A Loyola Law School professor argues in a prominent law review that these three, and others, now admit whites at higher rates than African Americans, Latinos and Asians -- this despite controversies and especially state ballot measures that ban consideration of race in higher education admissions. But federal statutes, such as the Title VI civil rights law, prohibit discrimination against minorities and an adverse finding on this account could be problematic for institutions, particularly state schools, that accept U.S. aid. In examining a decade of admissions statistics for UCLA, UC Berkeley and UW and applying federal discrimination tests, a case can be made that the law schools -- in keeping with state propositions banning the favoring of minorities -- have violated federal rules by disfavoring them, particularly African Americans and Latinos. This "I-Think-You Think-That-I Think-That-You-Think" kind of discussion becomes timely and trenchant because the logic underlies a U.S. Supreme Court case involving Connecticut firefighters -- yup, the one that some folks are howling about because of an appellate ruling by high court judicial nominee Sonia Sotomayor and the one that seemed to set off conservative justices, including John Roberts.  

Are State Law Schools Violating U.S. Law on Bias in Admissions?