Law Students

The NYU Law School Cash for Class Scandal

By Michael Law

Nowadays at NYU Law School, the right amount of cash can buy you any class.

Students studying at the top-tier New York University law school are wheeling and dealing for the opportunity to gain a seat in the most popular of classes.

Offers for the seats that range from cash, baking, gift certificates, and even inappropriate favours have flooded the forum for the school last week as desperate students advertise their level of commitment to gaining a seat before the September 3rd cutoff.

One July 21 e-mail pleads, "WANT: Entertainment Law, Will Pay Cash."

Another person posts, "Seriously. Let’s talk bribes."

A third person says, "I really want this class. I don’t have any classes to trade, so I’ll rely on the old capitalist standby, cash."

Turning Law School Classes into Cash

It?s an education in real life about the art of negotiating and getting the best deal for students who pay around $40,000 per year in tuition at Greenwich Village institution which has been ranked No. 4 in the nation for law schools by US News & World Report.

"People have been buying and selling classes ever since I started," said Colin George, who graduated in May. "There are always jokes about exchanging sexual favors, but I’ve never heard of its actually happening."

But last week, Vice Dean Liam Murphy attempted to put a stop to the whole operation as he sent off a letter to the 1,400 students that study at the school claiming the practice to be ?deplorable?, and threatened punishment.

"I write to remind you that trading class spots for money or goods, or offering to do so, is a violation of law school rules," wrote Mr. Murphy.

"It’s inappropriate to allocate seating in classes with real money. We endeavor to set up a system that distributes classes in a fair way," The Post was told by Murphy, also stating that he doesn?t believe that actual transactions have taken place yet.

The NYU Class Registration Lottery System

Registration for classes works as a lottery, and after the courses are distributed to the students they can either choose to drop or add others. Because there are no waiting lists at the school students make swap arrangements for one student to drop a class just before another shows up to add it.

"We believe in the free market, and we think that we should be able buy things that are valuable to us," George said. "Our job is to find our way around rules."

Vice Dean Murphy hopes that the act of cash-for-classes will end after the current year, as a system with a waiting list is being instituted for the 2009-2010 school year.

Many of the students will be glad to see the current market place of cash-for-classes go by the wayside, as they believe the system currently favours the rich, giving an unfair advantage.

"I’m amazed how many people want a class war for class registration," said recent grad Terry McMahon. "Law school is really expensive, and those whose parents can cover it shouldn’t be able to buy better classes than everyone else."

Full post as published by Law Vibe on August 25, 2008 (boomark / email).