Larry C. Farmer
Marion G. Romney Professor of Law
Chair – Technology Management Committee
Phone: (801) 422-2423
Email: farmerl@law.byu.edu
May 15, 2009
Dear Student:
Congratulations on your admission to the J. Reuben Clark Law School. At the law school, we strive to ensure that our students fully benefit from the latest technological advances in legal education. Among the features available to our law students are the following:
In order to ensure that each student has full and equal access to these services, the law school has established a laptop policy that encourages first-year and transfer students to come to law school with laptop computers meeting certain specifications. To meet the requirements of the laptop initiative policy, you must either (a) acquire an approved laptop, (b) obtain an exemption which authorizes you to use a laptop computer other than one approved by the law school, or (c) obtain an exemption which allows you to come to law school without a laptop computer.
Approved Laptops
The use of an approved laptop has a number of benefits. Approved laptops are pre-configured and pretested to insure that they are able to effectively work with network communications, printing resources, exam taking software, and other services supported by the law school. Students, because of the laptop initiative, are able to purchase discounted, high-end laptop computers from designated vendors that include extended premium-service contracts that last until the students have completed law school. Approved laptops for student’s entering in the fall of 2009 are as follows:
The specifications for the above laptops have been posted on the law school website at http://www.law2.byu.edu/services/laptopmain.php.
Purchasing Information
In order to obtain the special pricing negotiated for the approved laptop models, you must purchase your laptop from websites set up for BYU law students by Lenovo and Dell. Links to these websites are found on the law school laptop initiative website at the URL noted above. If you plan to receive your laptop in time for the beginning of school, you must generally order it before August 1st.
Also, you should note that many of the components offered for sale by Dell and Lenovo on the purchasing websites are optional items (see the "Optional Accessories" section of the "Laptop Comparison Matrix" following the price information). You do not need to purchase these items in order to comply with the laptop requirement. The additional price of each item is listed in the matrix. If you have any questions about the machines or the ordering process, you should call the Law School Help Desk at (801) 422-3884.
Financing
The cost of an approved laptop (roughly between $1,200 and $1,400) can be added to your budget for purposes of computing financial aid under the guidelines of the U.S. Office of Education. Moreover, the Law School is willing to make loans up to $1,400 from the Woolley Loan Fund to assist you with your purchase. The Woolley Loan Fund is a subsidized loan fund (no interest accrues nor is any payment due until after graduation). If you decide to use the Woolley Loan Fund to purchase your laptop, you should specify on the loan application that you also want to borrow up to $1,400 for the purchase of a laptop. The Woolley Loan Funds will not be available until the first day of class on August 24th. Therefore, if you want to use these funds to purchase your laptop, you may want to purchase it with a credit card toward the end of July, so the funds are available in time to pay off the card without incurring any interest charges. If you need more information on the loan fund, please contact Assistant Dean Carl Hernandez at (801) 422-6386.
Warranty and Insurance
Each machine comes with a complete 3-year, next-business-day, on-site international warranty. The machines also come with a no-fault insurance policy, which provides coverage for non-intentional damage to the machine, including accidental spills, drops, etc. This extended coverage accounts for the price difference for the same model laptop you may find less expensive elsewhere.
We call your attention to this warranty and insurance information because it is important to recognize that laptops are more fragile than the desktops with which you may be more familiar. In simple terms, it is unlikely that you will drop your desktop, put your desktop in your book bag and throw it into the backseat of your car, or spill a soda into your desktop. Aside from these more catastrophic events, laptops can have more service issues simply because they are portable and thus experience more jostling and wear and tear. The Technology Committee works hard to choose reliable models.
Nevertheless, we encourage you to take seriously the warranty and insurance information. In fact, if the information on the vendor web sites does not answer all your questions, please feel free to call the Law School Help Desk at (801) 422-3884 and ask about the warranty, insurance issues, service issues, and the like.
Software
We will provide most of the software you need to operate in the law school environment at no charge to you. The one exception is that you will need to have a version of Microsoft Word 2007 on your computer for your Advocacy class. As a BYU student, you can purchase the entire Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) from the BYU Bookstore for the heavily discounted price of about $75 dollars.
Approved laptops have been pretested and certified to work with SoftTest, a program used by students to take examinations. Only laptops that support SoftTest may be used during examinations. Thus, students who wish to use exempted laptops to take exams must confirm that SoftTest functions properly on their computers. All students may go to the Help Desk for assistance with this task. Please note that you can obtain an exemption to use Apple Macintosh laptops to run SofTest if the Apple laptop uses Bootcamp (not Parallels or other emulation software) to run Windows XP or Vista.
Support
Please note that only students with approved laptop computers will be entitled to computer support from the law school Help Desk. Students with exempted laptops may receive limited Help Desk support, but only as time and resources allow. Except for the possibility of limited Help Desk support, students with exempted laptops will be solely responsible for their own computer support. Students who obtain an exemption to come to law school without a laptop will be solely responsible for securing computer resources in order to complete writing and other assignments, access course materials on the law school web site, access email, etc. The law school has some public terminals in the law library that provide internet access, but there is no computer lab in the law school building.
Exemption to Use Non-Supported Laptop
Those not planning to purchase an approved laptop may obtain an exemption which allows you to use a laptop other than those models listed above. In order to obtain an exemption, a completed exemption form must be submitted to Dean Carl Hernandez by August 1, 2009. You may request an electronic copy of the exemption form from Dean Hernandez by sending him an email at hernandezc@law.byu.edu or contacting him by telephone at (801) 422-6386.
We cannot warrant that exempted laptops will communicate properly with the law school network. As noted above, those with exempted laptops will only be eligible for limited Help Desk support.
Electronic Device Use in the Classroom
While our policies properly encourage the use of laptop computers in our education program, we are also aware that laptops can be misused. The use of laptops in the classroom for non-class related purposes (e.g., such as sending and receiving email, communicating by instant messenger programs, browsing the Internet, playing computer games, watching movies, and working on assignments for other classes) can be distracting and degrade the classroom experience. Thus, law school policy prohibits the use of electronic devices, including laptops, in the classroom for non-class related purposes. The policy is as follows:
Electronic Device Use in the Classroom Policy
Students may use computers and other electronic devices during a class only for note-taking and other purposes expressly approved by the instructor.
Except for the use of cell phones to communicate in health and/or safety-related emergencies, no student, without advance express permission from the instructor in charge of the class, shall use any electronic device (e.g., computer, cell phone, smart phone, MP3 player, iPhone, iPod, pager, PDA, electronic recording device, etc.) during class to:
- Access email,
- Access instant messaging services,
- Access the Internet,
- Engage in any electronic communication, or
- Make a video or audio recording of class activities.
Instructors, for pedagogical reasons, may further restrict or prohibit the use of computers and other electronic devices in their classrooms.
Instructors have the discretion, in dealing with individual students who violate this policy, to further restrict or entirely ban them from using computers and other electronic devices in their classrooms.
Without advance express permission from the instructor in charge of the exam or the Associate Dean for Student Relations who can grant accommodations based upon a documented disability, no student shall use any electronic device except a laptop using SoftTest, during any exam.
In combination, the computing resources provided by the law school, the laptop requirement and the Electronic Devices policy provide law students with pervasive access to computing resources and a constructive classroom environment in which these devices can be used.
We look forward to welcoming you as part of the law school community. Again, congratulations on your admission to the law school. I look forward to getting to know you in the coming years.
Sincerely,
Larry C. Farmer
Marion G. Romney Professor of Law
Chair - Technology Management Committee
