Professor
Karen Orren
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Most Helpful Review
For 145E course: Do not take this class. Save yourself the burden. There is alot of reading and unless you have a cool TA (Gilda) then you will not do well in the class. Don't try to approach her or raise your hand in class because she will belittle you and make you regret any question you have asked. The class is pretty funny at times, especially when she forgets something or just plainly, is her old granny self. She gets off tangent alot too in class. Bring you laptop, if you don't want all your notes to be scattered. Also, Wikipedia will be your best friend, since most of you will not have time to read all your cases. So, good luck if you are dying to take this course. Other than that, stay away.
For 145E course: Do not take this class. Save yourself the burden. There is alot of reading and unless you have a cool TA (Gilda) then you will not do well in the class. Don't try to approach her or raise your hand in class because she will belittle you and make you regret any question you have asked. The class is pretty funny at times, especially when she forgets something or just plainly, is her old granny self. She gets off tangent alot too in class. Bring you laptop, if you don't want all your notes to be scattered. Also, Wikipedia will be your best friend, since most of you will not have time to read all your cases. So, good luck if you are dying to take this course. Other than that, stay away.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - I entered the class excited and passionate about constitutional law and walked away feeling discouraged, frustrated, and confused. I acknowledge that Dr. Orren is an immensely passionate and knowledgeable educator who has rightfully earned her title as a distinguished professor. First off, lectures were interesting but lacked clear organization. Professor Orren would read off Wikipedia, Oyez, or ChatGPT notes and add insight. However, her insight was disjointed in both presentation and occasionally material. When discussing complicated constitutional matters pertaining to the dense 75 pages of weekly reading, a clear presentation of what is essential and takeaways would've been very useful. Often, Professor Orren would begin a thought or statement and not finish it. This happened numerous times, with additional cases we were expected to know about for the midterm and finals. This made studying for either of the exams a nightmare. While we were encouraged to ask questions in class, the answer often left more questions rather than understanding. To make things even worse, we weren't allowed to ask questions about the class material in discussion sections- only about the cases. As for exams, the lack of organization and clear teaching becomes glaringly apparent. We were given no study guide, no complete list of cases we were expected to know from the 20 cases discussed, or any clear insight about test structure/expectations. After we completed the exam, we were graded on things we were explicitly told we wouldn't be tested on. Initially, we were told that this wasn't a law class- that we wouldn't be held to know every dissent, fact, or obscure standard within the assigned (and unassigned) cases. That was from the truth. We were penalized for not 'writing enough,' having explicit enough facts, referencing specific standards/additional cases, or knowing the dissents. This would be understandable if it were not made clear from the beginning that this wasn't a law class that required the rote memorization of 50+ cases. Candidly, if I had known, I probably would've dropped this class for that expectation. As for the final, I expect it will be as grueling and unclear as the midterm, and I can confirm that studying for it has been nightmarish. I admire Dr. Orren for her knowledge and understanding of the intricacies of constitutional law. I was excited to learn from someone who is considered to be integral in their field. This class instead made me question my interest in law school or law in general. It essentially killed the passion in me, something I know Professor Orren did not set out to do, but it happened anyway. I read every case she assigned and reviewed my notes before and after classes to make sense of the patterns. When answering questions in class, I was talked over and stopped midway. I did well in the class, but regardless of my final grade, I would not recommend this class to anyone.
Winter 2024 - I entered the class excited and passionate about constitutional law and walked away feeling discouraged, frustrated, and confused. I acknowledge that Dr. Orren is an immensely passionate and knowledgeable educator who has rightfully earned her title as a distinguished professor. First off, lectures were interesting but lacked clear organization. Professor Orren would read off Wikipedia, Oyez, or ChatGPT notes and add insight. However, her insight was disjointed in both presentation and occasionally material. When discussing complicated constitutional matters pertaining to the dense 75 pages of weekly reading, a clear presentation of what is essential and takeaways would've been very useful. Often, Professor Orren would begin a thought or statement and not finish it. This happened numerous times, with additional cases we were expected to know about for the midterm and finals. This made studying for either of the exams a nightmare. While we were encouraged to ask questions in class, the answer often left more questions rather than understanding. To make things even worse, we weren't allowed to ask questions about the class material in discussion sections- only about the cases. As for exams, the lack of organization and clear teaching becomes glaringly apparent. We were given no study guide, no complete list of cases we were expected to know from the 20 cases discussed, or any clear insight about test structure/expectations. After we completed the exam, we were graded on things we were explicitly told we wouldn't be tested on. Initially, we were told that this wasn't a law class- that we wouldn't be held to know every dissent, fact, or obscure standard within the assigned (and unassigned) cases. That was from the truth. We were penalized for not 'writing enough,' having explicit enough facts, referencing specific standards/additional cases, or knowing the dissents. This would be understandable if it were not made clear from the beginning that this wasn't a law class that required the rote memorization of 50+ cases. Candidly, if I had known, I probably would've dropped this class for that expectation. As for the final, I expect it will be as grueling and unclear as the midterm, and I can confirm that studying for it has been nightmarish. I admire Dr. Orren for her knowledge and understanding of the intricacies of constitutional law. I was excited to learn from someone who is considered to be integral in their field. This class instead made me question my interest in law school or law in general. It essentially killed the passion in me, something I know Professor Orren did not set out to do, but it happened anyway. I read every case she assigned and reviewed my notes before and after classes to make sense of the patterns. When answering questions in class, I was talked over and stopped midway. I did well in the class, but regardless of my final grade, I would not recommend this class to anyone.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2025 - Whatever you do, Do not get fooled by the theme of the course. I personally picked to take this class because I thought learning about Constitutional Law would be fun and interesting but boy, was I wrong. First off, Professor Orren does not incorporate any slides, textbooks or even physical handouts to keep retain focus and attention during lecture. She literally just stands at the podium and talks, often times switching between rambling and picking random points from her stack of notes. Normally, I would be fine with a traditional way of teaching, but there is absolutely no structure for this class. The only form of "structure" from this class was the 4-5 cases she assigns every week for section review except she sometimes adds 6 more other additional cases to be aware of randomly in the middle of the week through canvas announcement. You will loose focus during class and you will be confused 99% of the time. Second, if in any situation class is forced to operate online through Zoom, (as we did during Campus Closure during the Palisades Fire), she will not even entertain the idea of recording lecture for future use, in fact, she will mention how she thinks its "lazy" for students to rely on recordings. So don't even think about asking Third, for Midterm and Final, she will not let you know in advance what the Midterm formatting would be like because she simply makes it up the day before. The lecture before midterm when someone asked what the formatting would look like, she said "I am unsure, I will come up with something for the day"..... Also there is no study guide for either one, so you just rely on the assigned cases and whatever lecture notes you have. But I can tell you know that you have to memorize facts about the cases assigned and connect them to each other, essay format (i recommend 2-3 pages long). Its manageable but annoying nonetheless. Lastly, if you still choose to take this class, I hope that your TA makes it easier for you. My TA wasn't horrible but he also wasn't good so it was still a struggle to even comprehend. I just hope that you reading this makes you stay far far away from any classes she teaches. Honestly, she just proved that having tenure doesn't mean anything anymore.
Winter 2025 - Whatever you do, Do not get fooled by the theme of the course. I personally picked to take this class because I thought learning about Constitutional Law would be fun and interesting but boy, was I wrong. First off, Professor Orren does not incorporate any slides, textbooks or even physical handouts to keep retain focus and attention during lecture. She literally just stands at the podium and talks, often times switching between rambling and picking random points from her stack of notes. Normally, I would be fine with a traditional way of teaching, but there is absolutely no structure for this class. The only form of "structure" from this class was the 4-5 cases she assigns every week for section review except she sometimes adds 6 more other additional cases to be aware of randomly in the middle of the week through canvas announcement. You will loose focus during class and you will be confused 99% of the time. Second, if in any situation class is forced to operate online through Zoom, (as we did during Campus Closure during the Palisades Fire), she will not even entertain the idea of recording lecture for future use, in fact, she will mention how she thinks its "lazy" for students to rely on recordings. So don't even think about asking Third, for Midterm and Final, she will not let you know in advance what the Midterm formatting would be like because she simply makes it up the day before. The lecture before midterm when someone asked what the formatting would look like, she said "I am unsure, I will come up with something for the day"..... Also there is no study guide for either one, so you just rely on the assigned cases and whatever lecture notes you have. But I can tell you know that you have to memorize facts about the cases assigned and connect them to each other, essay format (i recommend 2-3 pages long). Its manageable but annoying nonetheless. Lastly, if you still choose to take this class, I hope that your TA makes it easier for you. My TA wasn't horrible but he also wasn't good so it was still a struggle to even comprehend. I just hope that you reading this makes you stay far far away from any classes she teaches. Honestly, she just proved that having tenure doesn't mean anything anymore.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - I love Karen Orren. She is a gem in the department and truly a historical genius. A lot of political science classes at UCLA neglect the importance of historical analysis - Professor Orren fills that gap. Some of her arguments are complex and take a bit of energy to discern, but with attendance and relative attention to the assigned reading you will have a delightful intellectual journey. You have to read, you have to listen to her slide-less lectures, and you have to memorize a handful of important cases/policies/historical events. BUT the intellectual outcome is really worth it if you are curious about American politics, polarization, nationalism, and democratic development. I would not reccomend Ryan as a TA though - they were not very helpful.
Fall 2023 - I love Karen Orren. She is a gem in the department and truly a historical genius. A lot of political science classes at UCLA neglect the importance of historical analysis - Professor Orren fills that gap. Some of her arguments are complex and take a bit of energy to discern, but with attendance and relative attention to the assigned reading you will have a delightful intellectual journey. You have to read, you have to listen to her slide-less lectures, and you have to memorize a handful of important cases/policies/historical events. BUT the intellectual outcome is really worth it if you are curious about American politics, polarization, nationalism, and democratic development. I would not reccomend Ryan as a TA though - they were not very helpful.
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Orren's class was very disorganized and not a very pleasant experience. She made students sometimes stay over the allowed time. It was mostly rambling and very boring discussion. The good thing about it was the amount of work involved. It was not very intense but it was extremely boring. Since my class was a seminar and very small it also depended on the students who were also boring and devoid of any intelligent and entertaining argument. So I qualify the class as boring maybe Orren would have been more entertaining and appealing in a different setting.
Professor Orren's class was very disorganized and not a very pleasant experience. She made students sometimes stay over the allowed time. It was mostly rambling and very boring discussion. The good thing about it was the amount of work involved. It was not very intense but it was extremely boring. Since my class was a seminar and very small it also depended on the students who were also boring and devoid of any intelligent and entertaining argument. So I qualify the class as boring maybe Orren would have been more entertaining and appealing in a different setting.
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