Tiger Madness

I guess there is a rivalry between the University of Memphis and the University of Tennessee. It was obvious after this weekends showdown between the top two basketball teams in the nation. Folks rocking there blue and white and the other side rocking their orange. Oh, there was one color challenged Omega who was rocking peach...but that's a whole nutha story in itself. I actually enjoyed the game, hated to see the Tigers lose. Some folk were doubly sad, not only losing but losing to U-T. Adding insult to injury, just more fuel to those who say Memphis is U-T's uh..shall I say itch in respects to athletics. Either way, rather see them lose now than in the Tournament.

Since I am on the Tigers, let me take a moment to congratulate two former classmates at the Law School truly representing. These cats made it to the finals for the Mock Trial competitions. I don't recall any brothas or sistas making it to the finals for Mock Trial during my time there. I got dropped in the semi-finals. Glad I got a chance to catch them in the finals. Looked like the deck was stacked against them from the start the way his Honor was ruling on motions and objections, but these cats did a great job and I am happy for their success.

Some of you may find their success no big deal, but from my viewpoint, when you only have six or seven or let me go long and say ten brothers in all three classes collectively, it's worth mentioning and highlighting. Sisters over there, ya'll know I'm wit you, but let me go there for a moment, not negating any of ya'lls accomplishments there...cause ya'll have been truly doing the damn thang. I find it an absolute shame that in a class of 140, 150, or 160, total students you have four black men. That's an absolute shame given the makeup of this city. My class of 143 students had thirteen black students, of that four were men. I mean walk the halls and look at the composites, how many bro's are in those graduating classes? Seriously? Don't be embarrassed by doing it, I did. Reminds me of the scene in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, "Yo Mookie...how come aint no brothers on the wall? Now, before I go on one of my tirades, let me start by saying, maybe word has gotten out to the brotha's and they just aint applying to U-M Law, yea...maybe that's it. Or, maybe admissions just aint really looking to increase those numbers. I'm not going to believe anyone in that department that says there are few qualified applicants. I'm just not. Are they not qualified based on numbers alone? Sometimes numbers aren't the right indicator, I would know wouldn't I? And, yea, with TIP being modified, who knows what the numbers will be looking like a year or two from now.

Since I'm on the law school, let me stay there and address faculty real quick. I did write a few months back about crossing paths with a former law professor who straight up called some of the professors there some of the most petty unprofessional individuals he had ever been around. There were some who he/she said found the students to be nuisances and didn't really want to teach. Given that, I wonder how it is the School allows some of it best professors to leave to competing institutions? How do you let another school recruit your own folk? Yea, it's a part of the business, but damn, at least make an effort to retain the good ones? Ok..ok, let me ask first are we making an effort to keep these professors once they decide to leave? Sheet, the folk that need to leave still up in there reeking havoc upon students. Now I'm not trashing any professor in particular, per se....but students can distinguish between a challenging professor and one that's just going through the motions. Interjecting race into the equation, how many black professors are currently teaching core course there now? Uh..that aint leaving?

All I know is I receive those monthly requests to support my law school, but you know what, ok wait aint ready to say that yet... With the law school hyping up its new downtown building, it's hard to get excited when you know the same folk within the administration will be making decisions in the new building. That says new building, same ish. How bout some new fresh decision makers? I learned a while back at a function,(due to me slipping on an e-mail) that some faculty cruise through here from time to time. I needn't add any disclaimer about the respect I have for those individuals either, (just did), but these are legitimate issues. I'd love to hear them addressed. Why should I support an institution that doesn't appear to want to hire and retain new blood (professors) or an institution that's not dedicated to having a diverse study body? Straight up. Sheet I may as well start sending money to the Federalist Society if I just wanna start giving money away.