This week, we were eager to welcome our students back from break for the start of a new quarter. We are on the quarter system here at Chicago, which means that our students are able to take three sets of classes each academic year. Our students often find that the quarter system allows them to take more courses over the duration of their legal education, but fewer courses each quarter than under a semester system. This quarter, our first year students will continue with important core classes that are part of their required first year curriculum. Our second and third year students, however, have a diverse range of interesting courses and seminars from which to choose. Some of our elective offerings this winter include Climate Change, Sports Law, Health Law and Policy, Law of the European Union, Law of E-Commerce, and International Environmental Law (just to name a few). In addition, our faculty is offering seminars that are particularly relevant to the current market conditions and financial crisis, such as a seminar on Evolving Regulation of Financial Institutions and Markets and a seminar on Bailouts. You can check out the full list of course offerings this winter on our course schedule.
In addition to starting classes, our students also jumped back into extracurricular life with auditions for the Law School Musical, a coffee mess hosted by the Black Law Students Association, and a Law and Economics workshop. Next week, among other things, the ACLU will be presenting "Torture Corrupts: A History of the Jon Burge Police Scandal" and there will be a panel discussion with a representative from Lawyers for the Creative Arts.
Finally, in the Admissions Office, we have started the year with reading files and planning our admitted student events – we are well on our way to putting together a fantastic Class of 2012!
We hope that 2009 is off to a wonderful start for everyone!