News Scrapbook 1986

Los Angeles, CA (Lo Angeles Co.) Los Angeles Dally Journal (Cir. D. 20,433)

MAY 19 1986

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 127,454)

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aw School News

MAY 21 1986

Gordon T. Ownby

t's taken her 80 years to reach college dream oi_q~c-' b . By Patricia 'flibsie Tribune Sta.If Writer N OBODY promised that col- !Pge would be anything but tough, and as the colle~e sen-

tougher to pass bf-cause of the number of lawyers they want to see admitted." "But that's not the fundamental Issue - but whether the passing score ls too high," Frakt said, Kahane agreed that scaling does not ad• dress the concerns of law school deans, who would like to see the exam's passing score lowered. "I don't think their argument will be any more attractive with scalmg in place than without scaling." Bar exam scaling actually was introduced In the July 1983 exam, but it was later dropped after some applicants who faUed the exam complained the system was really a method of controlling the number of appli- cants who become lawyers. The bar denied the accusation but none- theless decided to pass 157 applicants who had failed, saying the advance notice on the scaling "may have been unclear or ambigu- ous." ••• HASTI 'GS COLLEGE o( the La will be- gin admitting students for its new graduate tax program In the fall 1986 semester. The program Is directed by Professor WU- llam Hutton, and the school says t will use full-time prolessors for the LL.M. program. According to a school spokeswoman, the program "is rounded upon the conviction that tax expertise will continue to be a vital prores ional service In the pursuit or com- mercial, social, and governmental goals, and that intensive graduate education effec- tively precedes or complements tax speciali- zation through practice." Both full-time and part-time programs will be provided . The lull-time program will typically require two semesters while the part-time program will be spread over six to eight semesters. Th1: Hastings programs brings the number of graduate tax programs In the state to four. The other programs are at Meg~ cbool Law, GoluelL.Gale University School of Law, and the Unlv~rsit of San ~lofLaw. ••• A RIDDLE: How can a lawyer graduate from law school the same year as his young- est daughter and from the same school that graduated four other daughters? Western State University College of Law officials say It's possible because San Diego lawyer Jack Schall returned to law school 30 years arter passing the bar exam without a degree. He will graduate with daughter Jill on June 1. Evidently WSU thinks that so much law in the lamily Is bound to rub off on non-lawyer members, so the daughters' mother, Biddy Schall, will receive an honorary law degree the same day.

ior makes her way to the last fmal of her last class she shrugs and says with resignation something about getting a "B" instead of an "A." . "The competition here at tl 1 e T]m- versity gf San Die&o i& ..t-Ough," ad- mits the senior. "Before, the first two years at Southwestern College, I wouldn't have settled for anything but an 'A.' But all that's changed. Here I'm settling for a 'B • The com- petition is that tough." Beulah Mahaffey will graduate in ceremonies at USD Sunday afternoon with a bachelor's degree in history. Her next challenge will be six days later when she attempts to blow out the 80 candles on her birthday cake. "And isn't it lovely?" says Mahaf- fey with a smile. "It only took me 80 years to get to this Sunday after- noon." Mahaffey was born in Iola, Kan., in 1906 and attended high school in the small town. Her grades were above average, but the family had no money to send her on to college. "Besides, women didn't really do those kinds of things," she says. "I was expected to get married and raise a family. But I was even too poor to do that." And so the 17-year-old accepted a job as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse out on the prairie. She was attending a school board meeting out of town when she met her male counterpart from a nearby school. "It was Jove at first sight," Mahaf- fey says, "but we had to date and save our money for five years before we could get married. And we couldn't Jive together before we were married - not like they do now." Mahaffey earned $90 per month, her husband-to-be another $125. But that final sum didn't figure into their decision to set a date.

Actu lly, Kahane aid, scaling will not af- feet how "difficult" the exam questions are for t t taker but will govern what scores con tltute a pa~ Ing grade. "You can till have an easier or tougher e am but (test-takers) won't benefit or suf fer from It," Kahnne, a lawyer with an Francl co's Pill bury, Madison & Sutro, ldl t week. Under the sy t m, scores for the perfor• mance test and e ay sections of the three- day exam will be converted to the same al of mea ur ment u d for the Multl- t te B r Exam. Kahane sa id that the MBE air dy contains a bloc of "control" ques- tion that are r pealed In different exams By omparlng the exam taker ·' average ore on the control questions with their av- era core on the remaming qu lions, the examiners are able to add or ubtract points If the qu stlons are deemed more or less dll llcult than In previous exams. Kahan, aid that th new scaling will en- able examiners to do the same thing with the the c ay and performance portions of the t without repeating control questions In tho ctlons. This can be done, he said, by ranking all the exams, finding a mean score, and then finding the tandard deviation from the mean By plotting the e scores to the BE, the late examiners will be able to Judge the difference In difficulty from one exam to the next, Kahane said. Law school deans were scheduled to learn more of the new scaling system at a Friday m ting with the Committee of Bar Examin- ers, but one dean said the new scaling ls not likely to dlmlnl h the growing criticism of the exam by many dean In the state. "Based on the conversations we've had up to now, the scaHng Is fine," Loyola Law chool Dean Arthur Frakt said last week. "I think It makes sense to make all the parts of the exam consistent from year to year to clear up su picion that (examiners) make it

BEULAH MAHAFFEY USD student extraordinaire

but back then if a woman got mar- ried, she was fired The idea was one breadwinner per family. There were just too many hungry people. We bad to wait to save money and to be able to Jive on my husband's salary alone. We knew I'd be fired once we got married, and that's just the way it was. We just dated and said 'good night' at the door for five iong years." Mahaffey and husband, Mac, were married for 49 years. He died in 1979. "I was lost that first year, and then a friend talked me into going back to college to get that degree I always wanted," she says. "I remember that first day in school. Those youngsters never had a chance ag inst me. I Please see MAH,tFFEY, -5

"The girls now don't understand,

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:~~i.pey knew what I wanted and was deter- mined o go to the bead of the class." that's v• t!lty much where she,;; ~tayed these past five years - first at Southwestern and later at USD. "rve had the best life can offer," she says. •'and by my age you learn to put your energy into :,e things that are important and to let the rest go. That's something these young- sters haven't learned yet. ..All the philosophy classes in the world can't teach them what time a I ne can. That's something I have. and it's frustrating that I can't pass it along, But you can't, you know. Wis- And

be~ide us in our fight for anti-terror- 1Sm. I figure the best way to get them to see our side is to hit them m their pocketbooks. "At least that's what history has taught me." . She smiles and has a look of satis- faction about her decision. And if she could have but one wish? "Easy," she says. "I want to be Steve Garvey's sweetheart for as Jong as it takes him to pose with me for one picture. And then it's got to be over between the two of us." She giggles. "Isn't it nice to still be able to have a crazy dream or two?"

dom through experience IS tr best teacher and vou can't cram tor that late one night and have it by the Dl!Xt morning.'' After Sunday's graduation ceremo- ny Mahaffey will start packing her bags fo r a two-week trip to the East Coast. She wants to visit all those places she has been studying about in American history. "My first choice was to go to Spam and Greece and Italy," she says, "but there's no way you can get me over there. It's not so much the fear of terrorism. It's so much more. "I've studied history for so many years and have come to appreciate our country. I feel that the European nations aren't standing behind us or

San Diego, Calit . Southern Cross (Cir W. 27,500)

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< - USD Law School to give honorary degree ALCAI PARK _ University law pro fesso r Eleanor Holmes orton, the fi rst woman _to chair th . S Equal Employment Opportunity Com mi. sion ( I977-81), will receive an honorary degree at 10.30 a.m , May '24, at the University of San Diego St·hool of Ldw commencement She was chosen as the honorary degree reci pien_t f~r her work m developmg equal opportunity law and c,vtl rights, which " repre ems an important role model for future gcncrattons of lawyers," said Sheldon Krantz, law school dean. Holme Norton is scheduled to briefly address gra

San Diego, Calit. Southern Cross (Cir. W. 27,500)

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1/ USO to honor Bishop Maher at commencement

ALCALA PARK2_~ni~ersit~ of Sau, Diego will

P:e~ent:_d Bishop Maher with an award in 1973 " for

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present Bi shop Leo T . ~ aher with a

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Letters degree, honon s causa, at the undergraduate commencement ceremony May 25. Bishop Maher, bishop of the Dtocese of San Diego since 1969, has sened as chairman of the USD Board of Trustees for the past 14 years. HE WAS ordained a priest in 1943 and named bishop of Santa Rosa in 1962. In 197 1, he served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging. The National Conference of Chri stian and J ews

Hono rary degree reci pients are selected by committees made up of students and faculty members, and are approved by the board of trustees and USD president Author E. Hughes. DEMONSTRATION OF a commitment to the values for which USD stands and an imprt>ssive contribution in the area of one's career of volunteer endeavor , are among the criteria for choosing honorary degree recipients. Bishop Maher plans to address undergraduates at their commencement ceremony beginning at 2:30 p.m . He will also speak briefly at the USD School of Law commence· ment !\fa} 24 at 10:30 a.m., and the graduate commence- ment 25 at 10:30 a .m. --~- L