April 28, 2008Dear Dean Gomez-Velez,We are writing to stand in solidarity with the students in Professor Burton’s Spring 2008 Seminar class who submitted a formal complaint on April 17, 2008 regarding Professor Burton’s teaching.We reaffirm the position stated in our petition on May 2007 concerning Professor Burton’s Lawand Family Relations class. We recognize that students have lodged serious complaints aboutProfessor Burton’s teaching for several semesters.We understand the importance of academic freedom. However, the issues at stake reach beyondacademic freedom. The issues about which students complain are not issues of style – theyinvolve disrespect, inconsistency in standards, failure to explain assignments adequately,arbitrariness in grading, and a demonstrated inability to carry out an organized, coherent class.All of these are consistent with our petition from last year:Our concerns regarding… teaching methods in this classinclude numerous changes in the course content and syllabus over thesemester, late changes in grade percentage allocation, and the fact that amajority of the doctrine did not come from [] lectures but were distributedthrough incomprehensible and at times inaccurate handouts on TWEN.It is disconcerting that such low grades were received on a take home midterm,for which students had all of the information… the class sentiment is that therewere unclear expectations concerning both the content and the format of the test.As troubling as these patterns are by themselves, it is particularly unfair to inflict them on firstyear students. Given the increased pressure on first year students under our academic policy,radical inconsistencies in grading policies and teaching threaten to penalize students for theshortcomings of their teachers. Continuing to ask an individual with this track record to teach alawyering seminar undermines our claims to take skills-based teaching seriously. It deprivesstudents of a vital educational experience, threatens their development of important skills, andtrivializes the subject matter of the class.We strongly support the complaint filed by first year students. As you begin your investigationregarding this complaint, we urge you to reach beyond the students who filed it, and take intoaccount the experiences of students from years past. It is absolutely unacceptable to continue tosubject students to a professor who has been consistently unable to teach a class effectively. Wehope that you will keep in mind the need for transparency and concrete change throughout this process. This is an institutional problem, and an institutional response is needed.Thank you for your consideration.Sincerely,