Read on Twitter
There is always a lot of handwringing here and elsewhere about the humanities and science and the value of each as a college student. I want to share an experience.
18 years ago I took two terms of what was effectively Constitutional Law at Caltech in part to fulfill a humanities and social sciences requirement of my degree.
(actually it was 17 years ago, what year even is it right now). anywho
I had what turned out to be the absolutely incredible privilege to be taught by Morgan Kousser ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Morgan_Kousser)">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M... who among other things is an expert in voting rights and racial discrimination
To say that he changed my life would be an understatement. He primed my brain for everything I& #39;ve learned about social justice since. For the way I think about equity and inclusion and justice in science. All of it.
During the course, Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger were before Supreme Court https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grutter_v._Bollinger">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grut... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratz_v._Bollinger">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grat... For our final exam we had option to take the normal final or to write a full Supreme Court Opinion, supported by case law, dissents included
A friend and I chose to write opinions for Gratz and Grutter. It was by far the hardest final exam/final project/final whatever I have ever done (and I have final projects from grad school that are now highly cited papers) but it made me really think through access to higher ed
I& #39;m a(n assistant) professor of planetary science now who can cite Supreme Court case law when it comes to affirmative action (among other things) because my undergrad institution saw the value in ensuring that I didn& #39;t have just a science degree
And an amazing professor saw the value in pushing his STEM students to think really, really, really deeply about what our constitution means and who it has historically and continues to fail.
Anyway, Prof. Kousser is retiring, which is well deserved. Having taught 5 decades of Caltech undergraduates he certainly deserves a break. I hope there are many others who are given same types of opportunities that I was bc I am a much better scientist and human being for it
I just told him all of this in a message. And as a PSA if you had/have a professor that changed your life, please tell them. You& #39;d be surprised how much it matters to them.
So tonight is his last class and one of his lovely students reached out to alumni so there are...a really lot of us waiting on zoom for him to show up for his last class. A remote teaching silver lining if ever I’ve seen one 
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="❤️" title="Red heart" aria-label="Emoji: Red heart">
This is an 18 person class with 60 attendees and growing.
He& #39;s already teaching us https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abington_School_District_v._Schempp">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abin... and trying to convince folks to have their kids listen to Supreme Court oral arguments. I& #39;m so happy right now.
The good news is that this is definitely not the first time I have showed up for his class without having done the reading https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤣" title="Rolling on the floor laughing" aria-label="Emoji: Rolling on the floor laughing">
He has given the alums permission to leave but not until we get though the Lemon Test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_v._Kurtzman">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemo... because it is on the final. I am deceased.
There are still 64 of us here. 37 minutes into class. We haven& #39;t been dismissed yet. LOLOL
