Congratulations to the Jessup Moot Court Team

A group of Marquette students just finished an extremely successful weekend at the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, which took place in Chicago and featured schools from across the midwest. The team of Matt Ackmann, Joel Chappelle, Solomon Gatton, and Colin Stephenson finished preliminary rounds ranked third out of twenty teams, advanced to quarterfinals, and received a trophy for writing the fourth-best briefs. In addition, out of eighty individual competitors, Colin and Joel received awards for being the fifth- and seventh-best speakers, respectively. Having watched a couple of their rounds, I can attest that they did a fantastic job.

Thanks to the efforts of these students, Megan O’Brien, and various alumni, Marquette has now placed teams in regional quarterfinals two years in a row. We look forward to extending this record of success in the coming years.

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2016 Mardi Gras Sports Law Moot Court Team Success

2016 Mardi GrasThe Marquette Sports Law Moot Court team advanced to the final eight of the 2016 Mardi Gras Sports Law Invitational Competition hosted by Tulane University Law School. Please congratulate team members Alexa Callahan, Darius Love, and Nicole Ways. Professors Matt Mitten and Paul Anderson coached the team.  This year the competition included more than 50 competitors and 26 teams.

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Cuba – Do They Like Us?

(cross-posted from www.indisputably.org)

Since returning, I’ve received calls from those about to go and questions from others—what are the Cuban people like?  And what do they think of Americans?

The official Cuban policy, of course, is that the US policy has been shortsighted and narrow minded.  And the list of US policies that need to change was also outlined for us:

  • end the embargo
  • stop treating Cuban immigrants to the US differently from other immigrants (granting them refugee status when no other national group is and thereby encouraging them to leave)
  • leave Guantanamo Bay–what lease lasts over 100 years!?!
  • and stop broadcasting US propaganda from Radio Marti.

Museo_de_la_Revolucion-Rincon_de_los_cretinos_Batista_Reagan_G._Bush_W._BushAnd one can definitely see anti-American sentiment in the Museum of the Revolution in a very funny little exhibit called the Rincon de los Cretinos(the Corner of Idiots).

But those are the official sentiments, and not at all what one hears around and about.  According to the American journalist, Mark Frank, who spoke to us, there has not been any anti-US demonstrations in a decade.  And I did not see any billboards or posters that were anti-US (other than the historic exhibits in the Museum).  Most importantly, each student noted how individually friendly the Cubans were.

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