What’s New in the Classroom: Holistic Assessment

The current issue of the Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors (JALWD) has a number of interesting articles. In this post I want to discuss one particular article that really made me think about how I assess my students’ legal writing: Roger Klurfeld and Steven Placek’s article, “Rhetorical Judgments: Using Holistic Assessment to Improve the Quality of Administrative Decisions.”

In this piece, Klurfeld and Placek describe their work to help improve the quality of written decisions issued by the National Appeals Division of the United States Department of Agriculture. Their observations and experience make me wonder whether a holistic, reliability-tested approach to assessing student writing would improve the students’ learning experience and the overall quality of their writing.

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Gender and Asylum: Reforming U.S. Law; and Recognizing the Difficulty of Internal Relocation for Women

On the topic of the intersection of gender and refugee law, two recent (admittedly unrelated) reports caught my eye.  The first:  Human Rights First released “How to Repair the U.S. Asylum System:  Blueprint for the Next Administration.”  Among the several excellent suggestions in this blueprint is to “recognize gender-based persecution as a ground for asylum,” and more specifically, to “[d]irect DHS and DOJ to promulgate joint regulations that make clear that women persecuted on account of their gender are eligible for asylum.” Such reform is needed.  Hat tip Refblog Asylum Update.

The second item:  a report from Asylum Aid entitled “Relocation, Relocation:  The impact of internal relocation on women asylum seekers.”  Internal relocation (also sometimes called the “internal flight alternative”) is the idea that a person seeking refuge in another country should be required to flee internally, instead, if possible.  As the summary of the report points out:

As women’s asylum and human rights claims are more likely than men’s to be based on non-state persecution, women are disproportionately affected by the principle of internal relocation. This means even if you are recognised as being persecuted and at risk if you return to your home area, you may be told you can relocate to another part of your country. This report discusses the legal application of internal relocation and questions the appropriateness of this principle for women asylum seekers who have experienced gender based persecution.

Hat tip ImmigrationProf Blog.

If you are interested in these issues, the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies is hiring, for a permanent position as well as a summer clerk position.

Cross-posted at Feminist Law Professors.

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Resigned Guantanamo Prosecutor Discusses Moral Crisis, Catholic Faith, and Conclusion That “We Had Abandoned Our American Values and Defiled Our Constitution”

In a recent interview with the BBC, former Guantanamo prosecutor Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld discusses how the conflict he perceived between his military duties and his religious beliefs (as well as his beliefs about the requirements of the United States Constitution) created what the BBC terms a “profound moral crisis,” one that eventually led to his resignation.  

I found it moving to hear another human being discuss his struggle with these issues of conscience so directly, forthrightly, and genuinely. If you want to hear Lt. Col. Vandeveld’s discuss these events in his own words, you can watch this video at the BBC website. The BBC article reports the events this way:

It was one case in particular, that of a young Afghan called Mohammed Jawad, which caused most concern.

Mr Jawad was accused of throwing a grenade at a US military vehicle.

Col Vandeveld says that in a locker he found indisputable evidence that Mr Jawad had been mistreated.

After Mr Jawad had tried to commit suicide by banging his head against a wall at Guantanamo, Col Vandeveld says that psychologists who assisted interrogators advised taking advantage of Mr Jawad’s vulnerability by subjecting him to specialist interrogation techniques known as “fear up”.

He was also placed, Col Vandeveld says, into what was known as the “frequent flyer” programme in which he was moved from cell to cell every few hours, with the aim of preventing him sleeping properly, and securing a confession.

A devout Catholic, Col Vandeveld found himself deeply troubled by what he discovered.

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