I'm currently taking Comm171 and it is my FAVORITE class out of all the classes I've taken. So if you are even remotely interested in this class try it out! I honestly am only writing this review in response to the review that said "Huppin write these reviews himself". I remember looking over this class and being reluctant to take it because of that specific review but gave it a shot and am sooooo glad I wasn't misled by the review of someone who likely wasn't pleased with the grade he/she received. I do admit that at first I was slightly intimidated of Huppin but once you attend office hours and talk to him, he is so incredibly helpful and genuinely cares about the well being of his students; he even holds review sessions before his midterm/final which are extremely beneficial.

This class was interesting and worthwhile. Professor Huppin puts a lot of effort into his class and students. While the tests were difficult, he prepares you to do well if you show up. There is a couple of papers he assigns that require some original thought, but they make up less of your grade. It got boring reading the cases sometimes, but overall it was a good class.

I often found his lectures to be all over the place, but once I went to office hours, he made everything SO clear. I enjoyed coming to this class each time it was in session. The readings were all online, zero textbook needed. I would take 1-2 full days to study for his midterm and final and I got an A. He gives two thought papers that help boost your grade. I learned a ton in this class. Keep up with the readings, go to office hours, and study. You can get an A.

Professor Huppin does a great job with this class. The material is primarily based on evolutionary psychology, and he's been wonderful with making the necessary connections about why our communication via media has evolved to be the way it is today. His class is super fair -- he's not there to fail anyone. If you literally go to class every time and take decent notes, you're better off than the other 1/2 of the class. Midterm questions are specific, and you will need to study the diagrams/understand them to do well. Workload is minimal with a few short reading assignments, a 2 page thought paper, 2 midterms (NO FINAL), and a small project. I personally found this class super engaging, easy, and fun, especially since I'm not majoring in COMM. I would highly recommend this class to someone who is looking for an A in an upper-division class.

I went to class, took notes, skimmed over the very few assigned readings, and studied the night before to get an A- . The information given on the slides are a bunch of experiments. Just know the experiment, the result, & why. 99% of them are common sense so they aren’t hard to remember. 2 midterms, no final, 2 “papers” (they are thought papers, so just put your opinion with some facts given in the slides and you’ll get full credit. About 1-2 pages in length). The midterms were multiple choice and 2 short answer questions. Easy A with little work and interesting material. (I am a south campus major, so comm isn’t even my thing)

TLDR; super interesting, great professor, but requires a lot of studying.

The grading for this class is made up of two thought papers (worth 10% each) and midterm and final (40% each). The thought papers were around 3-5 pages. The midterm and final had multiple choice (I think 25-30) and short answer/short essay questions (around 6-8).

I loved Professor Huppin and this class. The material was SO interesting, and I think that anyone, regardless of major or background, would enjoy it. You get to learn about Supreme Court decisions on things like pre-trial processes, gay marriage, abortion, and religious freedom. We also watched two movies during the quarter. Huppin is engaging and truly cares about student learning. I could tell he put in thought about how we might learn best and ways to keep class interesting and relevant.

All that being said, the class is not easy. You have to memorize a TON of court cases and what their implications for the law are. There was quite a bit of reading (from the course reader and online articles he posts), and although a lot of it overlaps with lecture, not all of it does. When Huppin says that he will test you on material from the book that's not in lecture, he's not lying. Albeit it will probably only be 2-3 multiple choice questions, so you could get by with not reading if you're okay with getting a B or C on the exams. I also used the reading to clarify cases that I didn't understand from lecture. I highly recommend making a study guide throughout the quarter from the slides and reading because if you begin studying too close to the exam you will not have enough time. It is a lot.

I think the exams were pretty fair. A couple tough/specific questions, but overall if you go to class, read, and study, you should be fine. The thought paper prompts definitely required some thinking but I don't think they graded too harshly on them.

Pro-tip: I'd recommend buying/renting the Epstein and Walker textbook rather than the course reader. The course reader is literally just specific chapters excerpted from the textbook and is more expensive. I bought the textbook and it works exactly the same and I wasn't missing any information. The page numbers he gives correspond to the textbook.

This class is really enjoyable if you are interested in possibly pursuing law or just want to learn about it more. There are a ton of readings that you are supposed to do but I never felt like it was necessary as long as you take notes in class. The class is not a ton of work at all but his slides alone are not enough to do well on the midterm and final. If you take decent notes every lecture and actually listen to what he' saying you'll be set and outside reading won't be necessary.

Overall, this class has been my least favorite. The professor himself is an extremely nice guy, and I can tell he tries to make his lectures interesting. But, his lectures are extremely hard to follow as it is simply 75 minutes of him listing a ton of facts about different experiments. It’s almost impossible to type or write fast enough to get the information down, and his slides don’t help at all. His tests are based on those tedious facts, so unless you can keep up, it’s really hard to do well on his tests. He says you should be able to guess the right answer if you understand the concepts, but I disagree.

This is probably one of my favorite classes at UCLA. The court cases and laws Professor Huppin goes over are very interesting. He tries to connect what he teaches to current/relevant events. He also asks a lot of questions, so participation and discussion are the norm.

If you are interested in law school I highly recommend this class.

Hopefully he has changed his approach to teaching but when I took this course, he was sexist, patronizing, and degrading. He used to snap at the female students after class for asking more than one question and seemed to especially favor one male student, who had experience working for a law-affiliated organization who he would constantly mention/praise during multiple lectures (clearly he had favorites). If you are a white, heterosexual male then you should do just fine with Huppin but if not, good luck! Don't be fooled by his fake ass speech that he gives during the very first lecture of how he cares about students, he does not give a shit about the majority of his students and thinks very highly of himself.