Academic Credit

Academic Regulations C. Scholarly Publications

2601. General. A student invited to join a scholarly publication officially recognized by Hastings' faculty (a "journal") may earn credit for participation on the staff of that journal in accordance with the provisions of this Subpart VIII C.

2602. Eligibility: prerequisites. Successful completion of Legal Writing and Research and Moot Court are prerequisites to participation on the staff of a journal. Following consultation with the journal's editor-in-chief, the Academic Dean may permit a student who has not taken, or has received an incomplete in, Moot Court to join the staff of a journal. The Academic Dean shall not waive any prerequisites for a student who has failed either Legal Writing and Research or Moot Court. Successful participation, while a second-year student, in journal work or in Appellate Advocacy shall be a prerequisite to a student's serving as an editor of a scholarly publication during the student's third year.

2603. Eligibility: grades. A student must have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.2 to participate on a journal, with or without credit, during the student's second and third years. In order to serve as an editor on a journal during the third year of law school, a student must have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5 at the time of election or after the third semester, whichever is later.

2604. Journal by-laws and selection of members. Each journal shall enact by-laws that set forth the journal's procedures and criteria for selection of new members, work requirements, and other policies. The journal shall make copies of the by-laws available to prospective and current members. No journal may begin a writing competition for the purpose of selecting new members earlier than 9 a.m. on the day following the last scheduled examination day for the spring semester preceding the academic year for which the selection is to be made. The competition must end no later than 5 p.m. on the day before the first day of classes of the following fall semester. "Begin" means the distribution of topics or papers upon which the competition is based and which starts the writing or research by competition. "End" means the collection of papers qualifying for competition. No journal may require that a student who would ordinarily be selected on the basis of grades must additionally participate in a writing competition as a prerequisite to invitation to join that journal.

2605. Unit credit for journal participation. A member of a journal may earn up to two units for journal participation, as follows: A member may earn one unit by writing a note that the journal's editorial board deems to be of "publishable quality." A member whose note is accepted for publication by a Hastings journal may receive an additional unit of credit, if a member of the Regular, Distinguished, and Clinical Faculty with expertise in the note's subject matter reviews the note and certifies that an additional unit of credit is appropriate. This additional unit of credit will be granted only after the note's acceptance for publication is final and the faculty certification is made. Preemption of the note after it has been finally accepted and certified will not affect the granting of the additional unit of credit. Subject to the rules of the particular journal, a member of a journal may satisfy the note-writing requirement with an independent study under the supervision of a faculty member that fulfills the requirements contained in §§2401-2406. Subject to the rules of the particular journal, a journal member also may satisfy the note-writing requirement with a paper written for a seminar. Unless the seminar-paper proposal is reenacted, a journal member may not satisfy the note-writing requirement with a paper written for a seminar after the Spring semester 2011. The credit received for the independent study or seminar shall be in lieu of credit for participation on the scholarly publication.

2606. Grading. Credit for participation on a journal shall be granted on a pass/fail basis.

2607. Denial of credit. Each journal shall establish policies for the denial of credit to participants, consonant with the criteria and procedures set forth in §§2607-2609. Copies of these policies shall be filed with the Academic Dean's office by September 1 of each academic year. Credit for journal participation may be denied in the following three situations.

1. Withdrawal by member: A member who withdraws from a journal before October 1 of any academic year shall receive no credit for journal participation and all references to journal participation shall be deleted from the student's transcript for the academic year in question. A member who withdraws from a journal for good cause on or after October 1 of any academic year shall receive no credit for journal participation and shall receive a notation of "W" on the student's transcript.

2. Removal by journal: A member who fails to satisfy the hours requirements of the journal

may be removed from journal membership in accordance with the by-laws of the journal. A student who is removed from journal membership shall receive no credit for journal participation and shall receive a notation of "W" on the student's transcript.

3. Failure: A member who fails to satisfy the "publishable quality" standard for a note, as established by the respective journal's editorial board, shall receive no credit for journal participation and shall receive a grade of "F" on the student's transcript.

2608. Denial of credit: review procedures. If a journal's editorial board determines to deny credit to a journal member for a reason set forth in §2607 (2) or (3), the journal's editor-in-chief shall observe the following procedures:

1. The editor-in-chief shall personally and independently review any determination or recommendation regarding the denial of credit.

2. If, after such personal and independent review, the editor-in-chief determines that a denial of credit is warranted, the editor-in-chief shall communicate this determination in writing to the member concerned. This determination should be supported by written documentation of the reasons for the denial of credit.

3. The editor-in-chief shall communicate in writing any determination (and the

documentation forming the basis thereof) regarding the denial of credit to the Academic Dean.

4. Upon the request of the concerned member, the Academic Dean shall review the recommendation and supporting documentation. The Academic Dean will accept the recommendation unless it appears that the decision of the editor-in-chief constitutes an abuse of discretion.

5. The Academic Dean shall notify the member concerned in writing of the decision to accept or reject the editor-in-chief's recommendation, and if the Academic Dean accepts the recommendation, the Academic Dean shall notify the Records Office and the Career Services Office of the denial of credit.

2609. Denial of credit: resume policy. If a student is denied credit for journal participation for any of the reasons set forth in §2607, the student is not entitled to include participation on the student's resume. In the case of withdrawal by a member, this prohibition shall commence on the date that the student communicates the withdrawal to the journal's editor-in-chief. In the case of removal by the journal or failure, the prohibition shall commence on the date that the student is notified that the Academic Dean has accepted the editor-in-chief's recommendation. In either case, it is the responsibility of the student who has withdrawn, been removed, or failed to ensure that any resume on file with the Career Services Office does not violate this policy.

2610. Incompletes. With the permission of the Academic Dean, the editor-in-chief may grant an incomplete for a student who has been unable to fulfill the requirements for academic credit. The incomplete shall be administered pursuant to the requirements of §§1301-1305.