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WIDENER UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL
OF
LAWIN
THE
MATTER
OF
Professor Lawrence
J.
ConnellAFFIDAVIT
OF
DANIELLE
OPPENHEIM
State
of
DelawareSSCounty
of
New
Castle
I,Daniclle Oppenheim.having been duly sworn,hereby depose and state as
follows.
t.
This
affidavit is based upon my personal knowledge.1 am competent to testify.
2. I
am
currently a fulltime student
at
the Widener University School
of
Law in
Wilmington,Delaware.
3.I have been at Widener University School
of
Law since August
0[2009,
when Istarted
my
law school education.4.I have accumulated, over that time, forty-five (45) credit hours towards my degree
and have seen multiple classroom dynamics from multiple Widener
Law
professors.
5.I have read the entire 39-page First Affidavit
of
Lawrence
J.
Connell (hereinafter
"LC's Affidavit").
Witness
Interviews
of
November 22. 2010
6.I
was
one
of
the students interviewed on November 22,2010
by
Assistant Dean
Kelly.
7.
The
interview took place in Kelly's office in the dean suite at 10:30am.8.November 22. 2010
was
a Monday and I was called the weekend prior on
my
cellphone to schedule the interview.Before the end
of
the phone conversation. I was
 
asked to keep the conversation and the impending meeting confidential. I was not torepeatany
of
this to anyone.9.On Monday morning I met with Kellyandhe asked me to tell him about Connell and his class. I told him that I really enjoyedConnell as aprofessor and that I also reallyenjoyed the Criminal Procedure class that I was in. I asked him
ifhe
could tell mewhat he was looking for so that we could just address that issue. He told me that therehad been complaints about Connell and allegations about him being racist and sexist.
10.
I quickly told him that I thought theseallegationswere false and completelyridiculous. I told him that I purposefully took Connell for asecondsemester in a rowbecause
of
how much I learned from him and enjoyed him the previous semester inCriminalLaw.11.1 told him that throughout almost two fullsemesters
of
Connell, I had yet to feeldiscriminated against because
of
my
gender
or
difference
of
opinion. I neveroncefeltthat
he
was racist
or
sexist
or
that he brought up thesex
or
race
of
defendants
or
victims based
on
improper reasons.
12
.I told Kelly that I felt !hat the students who complained about Connell either had toomuch time on their hands
or
weresona'ive that their opinionsshouldnot hold much weight.
13.
Professor Connell teaches courses that makesense,theyarerelatable. He teaches us about the real world and not fromsomephilosophicalpoint
of
view. I also told Kellythat.1 appreciated Connell's real worldviews asthey demonstrate what we will face when we aresetloose
on
the legal community.14. I told Kelly that the people who brought thesecomplaintsneed to grow up and dealwith people they
don't
like in a professional manner.Thecomplainantsneed to learn 2
 
thatjustbecause youmay notagree with a professor onhow they teach
or
even whattheyteach,thisdoesn'tmean that theprofessorneedsto get intotrouble.
15.
During the meeting
with
Kelly
I
even indicated that there was a female student
in
my
CriminalProcedure class, who Connell loved to callon.He actually toldher
in
thebeginning
of
the semester that she was incredibly smart and must really like criminallawbecause she had great insight. Without identifying this student,thestudent is a female with, what
I
perceiveto
be
a Hispanic
or
Latina ethnicity.
He
would alwayscall onherin class and wouldtreat herwith respect, whethersheagreed withhim
or
not.16.Itold Kelly thatthecomplainants must have just disliked Connell and
so
they
saw
evil in everything thathesaid
or
did. Butthe reality
of
thesituationwasthatConnell is a great professor and I would takehimagain
iff
could for CriminalProcedure II.
17.
At the end
of
thismeeting Kelly told me that he was happy to hear a differentperspective about Connell.Hethenremindedme to keep this meeting confidential.
18.
Despite being asked to keep thismeetingconfidential,1told Samuel Elbardissi. a fellowstudent, aboutthe meetingbeforeI metwithKellyandthenI alsotalked to himabout
it
afterthe meeting.
Criminal
Law
Spring
2010
19
.In
thespri
ng
of201O, I was enrolledinProfessor Lawrence Connell's Criminal Lawclass.20. Regarding paragraph
16
ofLC's
Affidavit,ourclass discussedthe
Apprendi
case.Connell discussed with usthedifferent sentencing guidelines that were available tothe
judge
in this case.
The
judge
was pennitted to sentence defendant
to
a certainamount
of
years in prison
or
if
the judgefound that defendant had racialmalice in
3
of 00

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