South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 9, Ed. 1, Summer, 2000 Page: 2 of 12
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Page 2
Editorial
Summer2000
ft
Global Nothing
The dramatic impact
that globalization is hav-
ing on the practice of law
is beyond debate. The end
of the cold war, the pas-
sage of NAFTA and
G ATT/WTO, the ongoing
unification of Europe, the
opening of post-soviet
markets and mostly, the
development of cheap
communication via the
internet has shrunk the.
world fast.
Because of this, it is now
recognized by nearly every pundit of jurisprudence that the attorney of the
21st Century will be a different animal than his forbearers. The new
millennium attorney will be connected to the world as never before, and
he or she will be struggling with legal issues that extend well beyond local
jurisdictions; into the uncharted territories of extra-national law. The
ABA has reacted to the rapid shrinking of the world by hosting a flurry of
conferences that produced mandates that called for America's law schools
to prepare students for a future where the practice of law will be dramati-
cally different, and very few boarders will apply.
Other law schools have embraced this change and have retooled them-
selves. They have created endowed scholarships for international law-
yers, greatly expanded international law offerings, and most importantly,
integrated an international perspective into their classes, including first
year courses. In contrast, South Texas has done little more than pay lip
service to the call for more internationalization in legal education. The
admissions bulletin admits that "the international influence on the law is
unavoidable" and it takes great pains to point out that Houston is an "inter-
national" city, but were is the school's commitment to act on this by
changing its curriculum?
South Texas is quick to drop "international buzz-words" in its admission
propaganda, but in fact STCL is very much behind the global wavefront.
The school has only a smattering of international law courses that are
offered intermittently to upperclass students. Almost never is the interna-
tional perspective discussed in first year courses. In neglecting this, the
school fails itself by not impressing on first year students the importance
that international law will play in the near future on even the most funda-
mental areas of law. Why is it so rare that law professors will mention the
international perspective in first year courses? Why are we not at least
exposed to the international aspects of contracts, property rights, torts,
Continued on page 11..
EDITORIALS do not
reflect the views of any
one member of ANNOTA-
TIONS, but are selected by
majority vote from the
Editorial Board. EDITO-
RIALS are selected to
encourage thought and
provoke discourse about
important issues. Written
response to topics are
welcome and generally, all
letters are printed. Ques-
tions and comments about
ANNOTATIONS editorial
policy should be directed
to the Editor-in-Chief.
LETTER TO THE
EDITOR
Professor Puffs about
Lack of Smoking Area
|T1
Professor BufordC.
Terrell
* "
I just wanted to share with
you some thoughts on our
school smoking policy
First, smokers are a sub-
stantial and permanent part
of our school community.
Current statistics show that
about 25% of the country's
adult population smokes and
the percentage of teenagers
smoking is increasing so this
number will probably go up,
not down, in the foreseeable
future. Nicotine is an ex-
tremely strong dependency-
probably stronger than
heroin or alcohol either, and
only a very small percent-
ages of habituated smokers
are able to quit smoking per-
While an indoor area with
adequate separate ventila
tion would be best, build
ing engineering and costs
may prevent that
Any smoking area should
meet several requirements
It should be available
during the short, ten minute
class breaks;
It should be sheltered
from inclement weather
both rain and the unbear-
able Houston sun and heat
It should be reachable
during bad weather without
being exposed to the ele
ments while getting to it;
It should be attractive,
clean, and well-serviced to
avoid the accumulation of
trash and debris that our
lackluster efforts have so far
created.
The following features
are highly desirable as
well:
It should have sufficient
seating and table so that stu
dents can study in the area;
It should be central
enough and large enough to
manently. In short, a vast serve as ^e social center
majority of all those who for students that it has pre
vjously become;
It should be attractive and
well-furnished;
It should accommodate
the virtually universal habit
.. .
became habitual smokers
will remain smokers in spite
of all efforts to stop.
A smoker deprived of
nicotine for a substantial pe-
riod of time (measured in
lours, not days or weeks) as approach the build
suffers through sometimes before entry and smok
severe symptoms, including in$ immediately as they
anxiety, cranes, chills, less-
ened concentration and de-
creased mental abilities.
As members of our com-
munity, smokers deserve the
same considerations to their
needs as do the other mem-
bers. While local ordi-
nances do constrain our
regulation of smoking some-
what and while the health,
and to some extent, the aes-
thetic, considerations of the
nonsmokérs must be met,
some solution must be found
that also meets
ments will,
run,
and
controversy because it is
very clear that for the fore-
seeable future significant
numbers of students, staff
and faculty will continue to
smoke,
In the short run during our
construction phase, com
will have to be
: to make
mustes-
■31
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Palmer, Sean. South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 9, Ed. 1, Summer, 2000, newspaper, 2000; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144544/m1/2/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.