Social Contexts of U.S. Immigration Law and Policy · Sociology
4 reaction papers (open ended assignment about the week's reading, you choose the topic/ thesis) and in class presentation of one of those papers (40%), in class midterm (40%), final summary paper for last week's readings (10%), participation (10%)
1 annotated bibliography, 1 final paper (15-18 pgs), 1 book report (1000 words), and weekly readings.
Prof. Valente was a very generous grader and was more concerned with giving feedback and having a good discussion than whatever letter grade she gave you. There were weekly readings and you had to do a discussion post for 7 of the 10 readings, and she then used the discussion posts to guide conversation in class. There were three papers, the first two (a news article analysis and an op-ed) were designed to help you with the last one (a research paper). You could write about whatever immigration-related topic you wanted to discuss. There was also a final presentation on your research paper but it was very chill and ended up being pretty helpful since you could ask the class for feedback before submitting the final paper.
Although I had this class on a Thursday afternoon which made it really hard to focus, I loved this class. It's pretty low pressure allowing you to enjoy the readings and not worry too much about the couple readings you'll inevitably find too boring to read. Most of the readings were incredible and they were organized in a cohesive way. I enjoyed the discussions and Professor Salyer is good at facilitating discussion. The reaction papers are graded very easily. As long as you come up with a thesis and don't get summarize all the readings (and you actually do all the readings...) you'll be great. Same with the midterm--as long as you have read and know the material, you'll be fine. Salyer seems to mostly just use assignments as a check in to make sure people are keeping up, not necessarily to grade you harshly. If you're interested in the subject I highly recommend this class. I don't find Salyer's lectures to be boring like some people have suggested. He's also obviously very knowledgeable about the material which is helpful since immigration law is so complex.
Amazing class. Once a week, readings are incredibly interesting, and the class is seminar style. J.C. Salyer is great and helpful and has lots of interesting tidbits about the reading. The paper is long but you choose your topic.
I didn't expect to like this class but I really did! It started off very complicated and I almost dropped it, but after about three weeks the readings became less based in theory and more practical so they were actually very enjoyable. For example, we read a fascinating article about how ICE agents are trained that really got into the psychology of it. The class itself was super chill, participation was technically graded but Prof. Valente is really nice and you just had to look like you were generally paying attention. We had really great discussions and the assignments were not bad. It did end up being a kind of depressing class, especially taking it in fall 2025, but Prof. Valente tried her best to help us stay hopeful. Honestly Prof. Valente was the main reason this class was enjoyable for me, it was clear that she genuinely cared for her students. I highly recommend this class to anyone interested in immigration since you learn a LOT and you get the opportunity to research whatever you're most interested in, and definitely take it with Prof. Valente if you can.
Weekly readings.An in class midterm and final, and a research paper (15-20 pgs) - I wouldn't doubt if he only skims the research paper so don't stress over it
The readings for this class are really interesting but Professor Salyer is SO boring. His voice is incredibly monotone and his lectures are just him reading his notes. I was really disappointed in how he lectured because his readings were great reads. You will find most of the students on their laptops playing Tetris or checking Facebook. In the end, you do learn a lot from his readings if you do the work he assigns. It is a really easy class that meets once a week. I recommend it if you are looking for an Easy A.
Weekly readings; in class midterm and final, and a research paper (15-20 pgs)... we were supposed to have a project... but he basically forgot to plan it.
New seminar this semester (Fall 2010). If you're at all interested in immigration, this course is pretty good. Some of the books on the syllabus I'm actually planning on reading over winter break just because they seemed interesting and I never got around to reading them when they were assigned. The professor is new to Barnard (very liberal) and extremely laid back. Hopefully Barnard is smart enough to bring him back. He has a lot of knowledge from working for the ACLU and from being an immigration lawyer. Like any seminar, class can drag on a bit, but overall a fairly easy class and the reading isn't too heavy, mostly likely lighter than other seminars (of which I have none under my belt to compare it to). He does come to class though with his lecture essentially already written out, but decently animates his reading. I'd recommend it.