NY bar exam issue, razing a 1650 building in Huntington
Barry Lites, board chairman of Huntington's African American Museum, and Tiarra Inez Brown, the curator. Credit: Rick Kopstein
Yes, bar exam should have kept going
The bar exam is a highly stressful event. After enduring years of law school, candidates spend several months preparing for the multiday event. Their admission to the bar depends on being successful on the exam. If not, they must undergo additional classes, studying, expenses and retake the exam six months later.
It is quite common and well-known that people experience medical events during the exam. While some may think it is cold for the New York State Board of Law Examiners to continue administering the exam, it is not [“Official defends call,” News, Aug. 5]. It would be like stopping all traffic every time there is an accident.
It would be unfair to other test takers to halt or suspend the exam after spending a tremendous effort preparing for it. When I took the exam, I was very aware of medical events occurring all around me. In an unintended way, it prepares an attorney who may spend time in high-pressure legal proceedings.
Strict rules about moving seats are to prevent cheating. Many candidates must have been relieved that the exam was not halted or suspended, so they could remain focused on getting through the grueling process without prolonging it.
— Michael Sullivan, Garden City
Don’t raze 1650 building — restore it
It’s hard to imagine such a travesty as the Huntington African American Museum group planning to raze one of the oldest industrial buildings in North America, built around 1650 [“History moving forward,” Our Towns, Aug. 4]. The plan is to build a museum that won’t be completed for years and will cost $50 million.
They do have $300,000 to start with. They even hired, at likely a substantial salary, a curator who now has no museum yet to curate.
It would be much better and certainly more economically feasible to restore the current building and use it as a museum. For additional space, they could add an annex designed in the same style as the original building.
— James Christiano Jr., Massapequa
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