A day at Harvard

7am: Alarm.

8am: I am meeting other students and some people from the administrative staff in the lobby of Wasserstein. They are giving us subway passes and then we head to the Suffolk Superior Court House in Boston. We were kindly invited there by one of the retired judges so that we would get a feel of the way American trials (both criminal and civil) are conducted.

Source: https://itsgoodtoliveinatwodailytown.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/031914courtnl01.jpg

9am: Once we arrive and go through the security, we are warmly greeted by Judge Bonnie Macleod. We are then divided into smaller groups and continue on to different court rooms where we have the opportunity to observe for example a murder trial, cocaine trafficking case, or a case involving a million-dollar claim. We continue visiting different courtrooms until lunch.

Source: https://threebeats.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/img_5756.jpg

Noon: Lunch is served in one of the courtrooms and ten judges join us for some sandwiches. During lunch, we have the opportunity to ask the judges some questions with regards to the procedures, the jury service, and also about their career. This is one of the wonderful things about Harvard - we have so many opportunities to intimately meet people ‘at the top’ so to speak. It is very interesting that when we meet some politician, judge or an activist, it becomes stark clear that they are regular people and not someone who you cannot engage in conversation, because of youth and inexperience. On the contrary, most of them understand that we are at the beginning of our careers, just like they were in the past, and they are often very happy to answer questions we may have with regards to career paths etc. In this instance, the judges, contrary to their rather strict persona in the courtroom, are people with wonderful sense of humour and a dedication to public service who are very generous in their conduct towards us.

1pm: Some students stay for the afternoon session but I head back to Cambridge as I have a seminar later in the afternoon.

2pm: Because I am a Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (PILAC), I have to write a report on past week’s events especially in conflict zones such as Yemen, Syria or Mali.

Langdell library, Harvard Law School

4pm: I have a seminar on Hannah Arendt at 5pm which is taught by Professor David Luban (who is absolutely amazing). And because we cannot have laptops in the class (which is what a lot of professors do not allow), I am re-reading my response paper that I submitted the night before. We have this seminar every week and we have to turn in a response paper one day before the class. The response paper should reflect on the relevant week’s reading. This week, we were reading (about 100 pages) about Arendt’s thesis on evil-doing, particularly in the context of Nazi Germany.

5-7pm: The seminar lasts for 2 hours (just like most classes here) and we have a 5-minute break halfway through. Professor Luban turns to me right at the beginning of the seminar and asks me to reiterate what I wrote in my response paper - which I do and then other students react. This seminar is probably my favourite class as we discuss the roots and substance of evil primarily in Nazi Germany. Hannah Arendt published a host of books but her most famous one is ‘Eichmann in Jerusalem’ in which she coined the phrase ‘banality of evil,’ arguing that evil deeds are carried out by people like Eichmann - stunningly mediocre people with no evil intentions who, because it is asked of them, follow orders like sheep without any protest. This seminar is graded based on our class participation and, crucially, on our final paper which must be at least 24 pages long (7,000 words). I am writing mine on Arendt’s thesis of the banality of evil in the context of the abuse being carried out at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.

Eichmann during his trial in Jerusalem

Source: http://cdn.timesofisrael.com/uploads/2014/12/AP629942197170.jpg

7pm-midnight: I grab a bite after the seminar and then continue drafting the weekly update for PILAC which I submit around half 11.