To Be Fair, No One Ever Mails Conference Invitations on Time


Yesterday, I received an invitation to the Connecticut Law Review’s fall symposium on the subprime crisis. Let’s review a few pertinent dates:

  • The symposium itself is this Friday, November 14.
  • I received the invitation on Monday, November 10.
  • “Continental breakfast and lunch provided to those who RSVP … by November 7, 2008.”
  • “If you require reasonable accommodations for a disability, please contact [us] at least two weeks in advance [i.e., by October 31].”

Well, so much for breakfast or for having one’s disabilities accommodated. And really, who makes Monday plans to go to a Friday symposium over a hundred miles away? It’s unclear to me why it’s a good use of the Connecticut Law Review’s funds to mail out glossy invites in the first place. It’s doubly unclear to me why it’s a good use of their funds to mail them to professors like me, in remote areas of the law. It’s triply unclear to me why it’s a good use of their funds to mail them to unlikely attendees, and this late.


Subprime indeed.


“What, we printed 5,000 flyers? I said 500! I was wondering what was in that closet. To heck with it, just send ‘em to all the lawprofs in the tri-state area—the postage meter is outside our department’s budget anyway.”