Volume 51, Issue 4

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College Student Homelessness: A Hidden Epidemic

Issues Volume 51, Issue 4

By Chad Klitzman

This Note examines a surprising obstacle for an increasing number of college students: homelessness. After first offering an overview of legislation in the education field dealing specifically with the education of those experiencing homelessness, this Note then offers insights into how and why people experiencing homelessness tackle both the world of higher education and their respective institutions’ capacities to service their needs both in and out of the classroom. This exploration occurs largely through interview testimony conducted by the author. Many institutions lack the resources needed to service all of a students’ needs (food, clothing, etc.). After exploring the malleability of the higher education and social services systems, this Note argues that certain policy changes — legislation, community work, and change at the institutional level — would be beneficial in combatting this growing homelessness epidemic.

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Cultural Property: The Hero of Dance’s Drama

Issues Volume 51, Issue 4

By Vanessa Gonzalez

The importance, if any, of art in society has long been debated. Aristotle believed music presented individuals with three benefits: pleasure and amusement, moral training and cultivation of the mind.1 One could argue that many believe art generally provides at least one of these benefits to the public. As a matter of law, there are various statutory regimes intended to safeguard and promote artistic expression. Yet these laws overlook the vulnerability of certain types of art, including dance. This Note explains how a gap in the law has formed so that there is a risk that important dance choreography will be lost to our future generations without appropriate legal action. Part II illustrates the important economic and preservation functions of arts organizations, along with the existential obstacles they face due to their nonprofit status. Part III discusses the two main legal paradigms, nonprofit organizational law and copyright law, that touch on dance preservation and how they fail to adequately preserve dance choreography. Finally, Part IV proposes a new avenue for legislation to address dance preservation according to its intangible attributes.

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Clashing Standards in the Courtroom: Judicial Notice of Scientific Facts

Issues Volume 51, Issue 4

By Gregory Segal

The doctrine of judicial notice, contained in Rule 201 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, serves as a powerful tool for judges to bring in adjudicative facts without introducing any witnesses. Given the broad language of Rule 201(b), federal courts have used this doctrine for a wide and expanding range of materials. When a fact is judicially noticed, its impact is tremendous: in civil cases, under Rule 201(f), a jury must treat any fact that has been judicially noticed as conclusive. Judicial notice can be applied to scientific facts, but little attention has been paid to how judicial notice operates vis-à-vis the high bar set for the admission of expert scientific testimony under Daubert.

This Note explores this possibility. It begins by explaining the mechanics of judicial notice and the Daubert standard, and looks at how judicial notice has been applied to certain scientific facts. The Note identifies potential problems with current approaches: misapplication of Rule 201 with scientific facts and the possibility of evidence getting in via the judicial notice standard but not under Daubert. This Note argues that transparency is the key to avoiding these problems, such as judges providing more detailed explanations when taking judicial notice, applying Daubert in their judicial notice analysis, and more clearly citing precedent in taking judicial notice.

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