Part of learning to love your law school is learning about the little idiosyncrasies that separates it from every other law school. A few examples: Albany Law school has a basketball court in the middle of it, Harvard Law holds the record for the most graduates to serve on the Supreme Court, and the University of Florida Levin College of Law boasts a Trump appointed judge that gave a student who openly called for non-white disenfranchisement and killing Jews an A in an Originalism class. Unique distinctions aplenty!
Another aspect is a little more bittersweet — remembering the things that used to be there. If you studied in the Lillian Goldman Law Library over the last twenty years, that fish tank you remember will be no more. Yale Daily News has coverage:
After more than 20 years, the Yale Law School library’s freshwater fish tank is about to be removed.
Law Librarian Femi Cadmus, who manages the library, announced the plans to remove the tank in an email to library staff last month, citing “immediate budget cuts” starting July 1.
“After careful deliberation with Law School Administration, the operations of the Fish Tank will cease at the end of June 2025,” Cadmus wrote in the May 23 email obtained by the News.
Budget cuts? Barring Yale Law’s $1.2B share of the general Yale endowment as of 2022, does Yale not know that they’re Yale? They have a vast network of alumni donors — they should only be a quick email blast from getting the funding they need. Doesn’t even have to be the whole alumni listserv – any Yale Law graduates that also enrolled in an Ichthyology course in undergrad or listened to the gurgle of the tank as they memorized the mirror image rule are their Glenngary leads. Sure, maintaining the 180 gallon fish tank likely costs a pretty penny, but they have a pool of alumni that can buy elections when they feel like it.
I’d suggest we pour one out for the fish tank, but that’s kind of the problem, no? Let’s raise a glass to the memories instead.
Yale Law School Fish Tank To Be Removed, Internal Email Says [Yale Daily News]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
The post Yale Law Library Aquarium Set To Sleep With The Fishes appeared first on Above the Law.
Part of learning to love your law school is learning about the little idiosyncrasies that separates it from every other law school. A few examples: Albany Law school has a basketball court in the middle of it, Harvard Law holds the record for the most graduates to serve on the Supreme Court, and the University of Florida Levin College of Law boasts a Trump appointed judge that gave a student who openly called for non-white disenfranchisement and killing Jews an A in an Originalism class. Unique distinctions aplenty!
Another aspect is a little more bittersweet — remembering the things that used to be there. If you studied in the Lillian Goldman Law Library over the last twenty years, that fish tank you remember will be no more. Yale Daily News has coverage:
After more than 20 years, the Yale Law School library’s freshwater fish tank is about to be removed.
Law Librarian Femi Cadmus, who manages the library, announced the plans to remove the tank in an email to library staff last month, citing “immediate budget cuts” starting July 1.
“After careful deliberation with Law School Administration, the operations of the Fish Tank will cease at the end of June 2025,” Cadmus wrote in the May 23 email obtained by the News.
Budget cuts? Barring Yale Law’s $1.2B share of the general Yale endowment as of 2022, does Yale not know that they’re Yale? They have a vast network of alumni donors — they should only be a quick email blast from getting the funding they need. Doesn’t even have to be the whole alumni listserv – any Yale Law graduates that also enrolled in an Ichthyology course in undergrad or listened to the gurgle of the tank as they memorized the mirror image rule are their Glenngary leads. Sure, maintaining the 180 gallon fish tank likely costs a pretty penny, but they have a pool of alumni that can buy elections when they feel like it.
I’d suggest we pour one out for the fish tank, but that’s kind of the problem, no? Let’s raise a glass to the memories instead.
Yale Law School Fish Tank To Be Removed, Internal Email Says [Yale Daily News]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
The post Yale Law Library Aquarium Set To Sleep With The Fishes appeared first on Above the Law.
