We have received several IMs/emails from 1Ls about the tradition of applauding your professor after the last class period. Then, lo and behold, today, when I was waiting to go into my class, the class of 1Ls before me broke into applause at the end of class. The only time I can recall applauding at my school was at the end of Contracts my first year. As it happened, I sat there in a stunned silence at the absurdity of the situation.
What if someone gave him a bouquet of roses or started throwing panties or hotel room keys at him? What would happen if people started shouting encore? What if he pretended to faint, and a TA came and covered him in a robe, only to have the professor stand up and throw off the robe to an even more thunderous ovation, a la James Brown?
If I was a professor, I would end the semester by throwing down one of those smoke bombs magicians use and then just disappear, leaving only the cryptic message on the blackboard: "My exam office hours are from 3 to 5".
