A former clerk for Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, Emory U. Law Professor Robert Schapiro recalls the retiring justice as an intellectual mind who never lost sight of the individual despite the Court’s oft-perceived aloofness.

“Justice Stevens was concerned about the effects of cases on individuals and what the justice system meant to each person,” Schapiro said.

As reflected in his opinions and dissents, Stevens believed the Court should be open to all individuals, rich or poor, with no barriers of access or immunities for anyone, Schapiro said. Schapiro clerked for Stevens from August of 1991 to 1992 after sending out an application in his third year of law school.

Stevens, who announced his planned retirement on April 9 and will leave the Court when the summer recess begins, leaves behind a legacy of commitment to arriving at the right answer, Schapiro said.

“He looked at each case on its own to figure out the right answer without being especially concerned with how it would fit into some larger ideology,” Schapiro said. “He would always say to just do the right thing, and don’t worry about how it would be perceived, whether too liberal or too conservative. Just get the case right.”

According to Schapiro, Stevens subscribed to the belief that the bigger picture follows from properly deciding the individual cases — in other words, individual cases should not be decided based on how they fit into a larger view.

Some of Stevens’ most notable majority opinions include those written in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006) and Clinton v. Jones (1997). In the former, Stevens upheld the view that the Constitution extended to those accused of engaging in terrorism. In Clinton v. Jones, the majority ruled that the president does not have immunity from a civil suit. Both cases articulated Stevens’ firm belief that no one should be excluded or exempt from the judicial system.

Schapiro said his experience clerking for Stevens included reviewing petitions for certiorari and working on drafting opinions. Clerks typically divide up the petitions received and write memos on those that merit analysis.

“It was nice that there’s no requirement on writing a memo for all petitions because you get the sense that the justice trusts your judgment on that,” Schapiro said. He said that since Stevens did not participate in the cert pool, where the memo written by one clerk circulates to all participating justices, he knew his memos were on important issues and were directly addressed to Stevens.

After opinions were assigned, Schapiro said, Stevens would pen the first draft before passing it on to his clerks.

“It was up to you to work on that opinion. That was frankly a daunting experience at first, and we felt constrained to change much or to expand on it,” Schapiro said. “But that’s what’s expected. You fill it in and have exchanges back and forth with the justice.”

During his clerkship, Schapiro worked on Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), which reaffirmed a woman’s right to abortion as established in Roe v. Wade (1973), among other cases.

Stevens’ departure from the Court grants President Obama a second opportunity to nominate a justice to the high court. The nomination and following confirmation process come at a time of notable polarization in Congress and will likely intersect with the midterm elections in the fall.

Several news sources have cited U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, former Harvard Law School dean, as one of the frontrunners. Schapiro said Kagan would add an amount of diversity to the Court if nominated and confirmed, since she — unlike the currently sitting justices — has never served as a judge.

Schapiro said that while he has no particular preferred candidate on the short list, he hopes to see someone who remains similarly concerned with the effect of law on individuals.

“[Stevens] never lost sight of the role of law protecting individuals and on individuals. I hope his success maintains that focus,” Schapiro said.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar, best known as Zack Morris from the hit ‘90s television show “Saved by the Bell,” spoke about his struggles and successes as an actor at Emory U.

Gosselaar began by stating he did some research on college prior to preparing his speech since he never attended college himself.

“I was shocked to find you’ve been doing this for four years,” Gosselaar joked. “I thought the college years lasted for only 22 episodes.”

When discussing the evolution of “Saved by the Bell,” Gosselaar noted that the show was a spin-off of a series that aired for one year called “Good Morning, Miss Bliss.”

The show featured several of the characters from “Saved by the Bell” and took place in Indiana.

Gosselaar said when “Good Morning, Miss Bliss” was revamped most people did not notice the classmates had inexplicably moved from Indiana to the Pacific Palisades in California.

Gosselaar said he enjoyed making “Saved by the Bell,” and explained he felt several of the issues presented in the show mirrored the issues the actors were experiencing in their lives.

“For me, ‘Saved by the Bell’ really was my high school,” he said.

He explained that while parts of television shows may coincide with real-life situations, television often ignores the larger problems in life.

“TV offers a version of real life that is designed to distract people from what is real life,” Gosselaar said.

For Gosselaar and his co-stars, high school entailed a few hours of schooling a week.

Gosselaar said he never had to write papers and mainly just had to fill out multiple choice packets every week.

He joked that if he had to write a thesis, he could have written about hair, given the intense, ritual color-treatment he had to undergo on a regular basis to portray the fair-haired Morris.

After “Saved by the Bell” ended, Gosselaar said he struggled to find work.
“Every time I went into a casting office they expected a blonde-haired guy from the Palisades,” Gosselaar said. “I was a brown-haired dude from the valley.”

In the meantime, Gosselaar planned his wedding, a small ceremony in Hawaii.

After two and a half years making regular trips to the unemployment office, Gosselaar landed a part in a television movie.

“It turns out the moment you let things go is the moment you touch down,” Gosselaar said.

Gosselaar encouraged students to pursue their passions despite any obstacles they may face.

“No one’s life flows without disappointment and pain,” Gosselaar said. “We all have our ups and downs.”

In an interview with the Wheel before his speech, Gosselaar acknowledged that this was the first time he had to deliver an address of such a length and was eager for the challenge.

“I thought it was time for me to open up about my experiences on ‘Saved by the Bell’ and in life in general.” Gosselaar said. “I have been very reserved at times, and I felt this was a safe environment to express myself. I hope students walk away with a little more knowledge of where I came from and the sort of things that have shaped me over the years.”

Cornell U. marketing and tourism professor Michael Lynn surveyed 374 waitresses about their perceived “sexiness,” breast size and other physical characteristics and correlated these results with the amount of tips the waitresses received.

His results indicate that evolutionary instinct trumps the ideals many patrons profess. Though most customers say they reward service, Lynn reports that quality of service has less than a 2-percent effect on the actual tip.

Instead, he found that waitresses with larger bra sizes received higher tips — as did women with blonde hair and slender bodies.

While this may seem self-evident to some, Lynn said that “it’s always important to test what seems like obvious cultural wisdom.”

Lynn believes his research, conducted from a wide range of women, is important because it “fills in some holes” in the area of tipping behavior.

“This study uses a broader array of stimuli as they appear three-dimensionally … to themselves and their customers,” he said.

Lynn explained that his study could be useful to a potential waitress as it can help gauge her “prospects in the industry.”

“It also informs management decisions about who to hire,” Lynn added, explaining that servers who earn higher tips are more desirable employees because they are likely to stay at their job longer. Higher tips also indicate higher customer approval of the server, and by association, the establishment in general.

“[Restaurants] might very well want to hire waitresses who will earn larger tips,” Lynn said. “[These employees] can largely be identified through their physical characteristics.”

He acknowledged that such an open policy could offend some people.  In actuality, Lynn noted that many employers already take into account their applicants’ appearances. He referred to the popularity of Hooters and other similar “breastaurants” that openly capitalize on men’s affinity for “attractive” — and in particular, busty — servers.

“Ugly people are not a protected class, legally,” Lynn said. “It is not in fact illegal to hire only attractive waitresses.”

He also discussed the evolutionary basis for the tipping pattern.

“Evolutionary theories suggest that men [who] find women with large, non-droopy breasts attractive … would leave more offspring behind,” he said.  Such qualities in women suggest greater “reproductive potential,” according to Lynn.

Lynn said that his research implications could plausibly be extended to the world beyond the restaurant as well.

“In general, attractive people earn higher incomes … and are evaluated more favorably,” he said.

Lynn’s results were met with distaste and disappointment from some of his colleagues at Cornell.

“I am disappointed but not surprised to learn that female servers with larger breasts receive more generous tips,” said Prof. Sherry F. Colb, law, who studies sexual equality.

Colb criticized the tipping system in general as facilitating the kind of discrimination that Lynn uncovered.

“Like the employer who fails to promote an employee because she does not sufficiently conform to the feminine stereotype, restaurant owners share in the blame for utilizing a pay structure that turns unenlightened customers into the ‘boss’ in charge of determining a server’s take-home pay,” she said.

Colb suggested instead that a uniform percentage “gratuity” be charged with each meal.

Last Earth Day, Disney decided to premiere the first in a new collection of documentary films by Disney Nature — Disney Earth. The film was enough of a success to launch another Earth Day film, Disney Oceans, that would capture the beauty beneath the sea. The film was directed by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzard, both know for shooting nature documentaries.

The film begins with reminding audiences of the childlike curiosity people have for the ocean. The movie opens with children running towards the ocean and one boy wondering what is beneath the sea — something we have all wondered. From that moment on, the film dove underneath the ocean, showing audiences wonders that you could never have imagined while riding the waves on the coast.

Pierce Brosnan narrates the film, sounding as astute as ever. His voice is easy to listen to and enjoyable, however the lack of real passion in his voice made the film resemble the kind of film you might watch when your sixth grade science teacher is out sick. But unlike the videos substitutes used to play, this film was spectacularly filmed and produced, so Brosnan’s voice was pleasantly overshadowed.

One particularly awe worthy aspect of the film was the ability of the camera to get exceptionally close to these animals and capture them in their natural habitats. The smallest features on the smallest animals were sharp and clear, such as the little legs on the starfish. The only negative part of the clarity was that it was almost confusing — as the details and the ability to project them on the screen could make it difficult to tell how small these animals really are. The largest whale in the film, the magnificent blue whale, was filmed next to a diver so the magnitude of the largest animal of the world (100 feet long) could be understood.

The animals that were featured in Oceans benefited greatly from the high-tech cameras. These oceanic creatures were among the most unique fish in the entire world. One cannot even imagine how wide a variety of fish there are in the different parts of the world. Comparisons are made to the ocean being another universe, and to the fish being the aliens. Seeing some of these fish, ranging from strange to gorgeous (most notably the blanket octopus and the Spanish dancer fish), makes audiences wonder how they have shared a planet with them for this long without realizing their existence. Of course, more traditional ocean dwellers are prominent in the film such as sea otters, dolphins and starfish.

Oceans effectively weaved stories into the film — which could have been overdone leaving the film feeling false or could have been missing, which would have left audiences with an aesthetically pleasing collection of fish, and no stimulating story. There are a few cute anecdotal fish stories that Brosnan narrates. For example, the symbiotic relationships between smaller fish and their larger counterparts (which involve the smaller fish cleaning the larger ones with no fear of being consumed) included well-placed and appropriate jokes that lightened the mood of the film.

Appropriately so, the film contained necessary environmental arguments including the dangerous effect of run-off in the oceans from lakes and streams, the melting of the polar ice caps and hunting of endangered fish or harming innocent unwanted fish while hunting for others. Oceans could have come off overly preachy while delivering these messages, however the beauty of the oceans spoke for themselves. After an hour of watching the fish and marine mammals, the arguments resonated without much persuasion.

Audiences will enjoy more than breathtaking images of creatures that most people would have never seen before; they will laugh and cry in the film, as the expert filmmakers somehow created empathy from the audiences with the marine creatures.

Members of the “Hungry For Justice Coalition” will meet with campus officials at U. California-Berkeley a day after Chancellor Robert Birgeneau issued a letter responding to the strikers’ demands.

Four students and one union worker will have an informal discussion with Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Harry Le Grande Thursday at 4 p.m.

In the statement, Birgeneau addressed each of the demonstrators’ six demands, stating he is “personally prepared” to speak out against the recently passed Arizona immigration law and will join with others in urging President Barack Obama to find a way to repeal the law, “repairing a clearly broke federal immigration law system.”

Members of the Hungry for Justice Coalition met at 2 p.m. to discuss Birgeneau’s response but will not comment until after the meeting, according to senior Horacio Corona, currently in his 75th hour without food. A meeting was attempted Wednesday between student strikers and Breslauer, but the talk was called off when campus officials refused to let Tanya Smith, president of the University Professional and Technical Employees Local 1, join the students.

In the letter Birgeneau said the campus has already hired eight out of 33 laid-off custodians and will try to rehire more laid-off employees as new positions open up.

Birgeneau said he will not acquiesce to the strikers’ demand to have UC Berkeley declared a sanctuary campus for undocumented students because there may be the “unintended consequence of putting undocumented students and other community members at risk for heightened scrutiny.” He also said undocumented students would not be put at risk if they contacted UCPD to report crimes or threats.

The chancellor also declined to drop conduct charges against all student activists, as the strikers requested, saying the campus has already dropped cases against those involved in the Dec. 11 “Open University” demonstration and that the circumstances surrounding the Nov. 20 Wheeler Hall occupation disrupted the campus community.

“On November 20th, 3800 students were prevented from attending classes by the actions of the protesters who occupied Wheeler Hall and a number of our buildings were disrupted by falsely pulled fire alarms,” he said in the statement. “We have an obligation to all members of our community to ensure that our (normal) campus activities are not disrupted and our Time, Place and Manner rules are upheld.”

The campus will not suspend conduct procedures, but a task force of students, faculty and staff will be created to reexamine the conduct process.

In response to the strikers’ demand that the campus accept “responsibility for the violence and escalation of the confrontation surrounding Wheeler Hall on Nov. 20 and Dec. 11,” Birgeneau said he regrets the incidents that “brought physical and emotional injury” and that the campus is investigating the events led by the Police Review Board. A report from Wayne Brazil, professor of law and chair of the board, is expected by the end of the month.

“We are committed to fashioning policies and procedures that honor the University’s commitments to freedom of inquiry and expression, and to maintaining the kind of secure and safe environment without which free inquiry and expression would not be possible,” Birgeneau said in the letter.

Earlier this morning, two members of American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 announced they would join in the hunger strike.

Dear 18-Year-Old Me:

Well, congratulations on both graduating high school and making it to your 18th birthday. In one month, you’ll be starting your first semester of college.

You’ll spend a few weeks feeling sorry for yourself, after being removed from everyone you knew and loved, but things will markedly improve around October when you meet the girls whom you’ll live with for the remainder of your time at school.

In your sophomore year, you’ll meet the guys who drive you crazy and give you headaches, while still somehow endearing themselves to you.

By your junior year, you’ll find yourself on a plane, ready to spend the next four months in Scotland.

You’ll return in time for your senior year, where everything suddenly seems more valuable because it will all end soon.

But, for now, you’re still 18, so enjoy the last summer of truly living at home. I’ve thrown together some bits of advice that might be helpful in the years ahead.

Make sure you surround yourself with good people. Avoid those who only bring out the worst in you.

If you appreciate someone, let them know. Give that certain professor a glowing review, but also tell their department chair about how much you enjoyed the class.

Hold onto more than just photos from parties and events. Keep old papers, exams, tickets stubs, etc. Take photos of a normal day, when you’re doing nothing more than hanging out in your dorm with a couple of friends. Nights at bars will always be fun to remember, but don’t overlook the time spent playing Mario Kart or watching your favorite Tuesday night show with your housemates.

Remember what Mom taught you: If you have a problem with something, take the initiative to get involved and fix it, like joining the Residence Student Council.

Your closest friends in college will become your family. Fighting will be an inevitability, especially if you live together. Hash it out, say (or yell) your piece, and then move on. One fight isn’t worth ending your friendship.

With that said, learn to pick your battles. Know when to stand up for yourself and when to hold your pride.

Go easy on College Activities. A lot of students will complain about the lack of events, while not actually participating in the events that are offered. College Activities has to somehow make 5,000 people happy, so try to be a bit forgiving.

Really get to know the people in your major. They’re the ones who not only have the same passion as you, but also they’re the ones you’re most likely to need as you all enter your respective fields of work.

You’ll have the next four years to try new attitudes, beliefs, etc., until you find the combination that best suits you. Make the most of your time, and don’t be afraid to go outside the paradigm. Either your leap into the unfamiliar will make you more secure in your understanding of yourself, or you’ll be able to start over after you graduate.

Finally, never forget about your family. They’re the ones who have been there for you for the last 18 years, and they’ll also be there for the rest of your life. Your college friends will become a second family to you, but don’t discount those you left behind.

Ohio U. guard Armon Bassett will forego his senior season and remain in the NBA Draft, according to a statement the team released today.

The junior guard declared for the draft last month, but elected not to hire an agent. Bassett had until Saturday to decide to either return to school or remain in the draft.

“After speaking with Armon and his family, we all agreed at this point it was in Armon’s best interest to stay in the NBA Draft,” Ohio head coach John Groce said in the statement. “We are very thankful for all Armon has contributed to the Ohio men’s basketball program and we look forward to following his career from this point forward.”

In his only season as a Bobcat, Bassett helped Ohio reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005. He led the team in scoring at 17.1 points per game, but most of his accolades came during the team’s postseason run.

The Terre Haute, Ind., native averaged 29 points per game during the Mid-American Conference Tournament, which Ohio won. He then scored 32 points in Ohio’s 97-83 victory against Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“I feel like after the run we had and the exposure we received, I’m ready to take this next step in my professional career,” Bassett said in the team’s statement. “After speaking with Coach Groce and my family, this is the best thing for me. I’ve enjoyed representing Ohio and I will always have great memories of what we were able to accomplish.”

The announcement came two days after the team suspended Bassett from all team-related activities after he pleaded not guilty to assaulting John Willis, a doorman at Courtside Pizza and Sports Bar, last Saturday night.

Willis appeared to have suffered a broken nose, according to a report from the Athens Police Department. Judge William Grim ordered Bassett to stay away from both Willis and Courtside Pizza.

Speculation arose last month that Bassett planned to play professional basketball when posts on his personal Facebook page suggested he planned to leave Athens.

Bassett did not register for Spring Quarter classes at the university until the end of the quarter’s first week of classes.

Ohio Athletics declined to comment throughout the process until releasing last month’s initial statement that Bassett had entered the draft.

Bassett’s departure will open another scholarship for the team. The Bobcats already had one open scholarship for next year, which opened when redshirt junior Asown Sayles elected to graduate this spring instead of returning for another year.