Ha!  Hey, Peter, that's pretty funny.  You really had me going there.  But
then I realized that no one would so aggressively and directly call a
colleague's judgment into question without knowing more about the facts of
the situation.

Take care!

-Dan

 On 3/30/04 5:23 PM, "Peter W. Schroth" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear Professor Cahoy,
>
> In my opinion, a student should not be allowed to undertake
> such a project without at least (1) a good reading knowledge
> of Italian and (2) some knowledge of Italian law in
> general.  It is clear from the student's message that she is
> way out of her depth.
>
> It might make sense to require that the project be limited
> to EU law, rather than attempting to include Italian
> domestic law.  However, although the necessary EU materials
> are available in English, some general knowledge of EU law
> would be necessary.  Does she have sufficient background in
> that?
>
> It seems to me that you should be providing guidance here,
> not merely facilitating an inappropriate project.  Your
> student needs to learn to walk before she tries to run the
> high hurdles, but, in this instance, she wants to run them
> wearing a blindfold.
>
> Peter W. Schroth
>
> Dan Cahoy wrote:
>>
>> One of my honors advisees has a need for some rather
>> complex research assistance. . . .
>>
>> The student is looking for information on Italian insider
>> trading regulations, but can't seem to find anything
>> substantive that isn't in Italian (go figure).  Her
>> specific request is below in quotes. . . .
>>
>> "As we'd previously discussed, I was looking to compare
>> investor relations
>> practices and more specifically, insider trading laws, in
>> the US to those of
>> Italy for my thesis.  The information on the US is clearly
>> not a problem to
>> find.  Yet in my preliminary research, I had found a lot
>> of links in Italian
>> so I had assumed the information was out there in English
>> as well.  After
>> having spent extensive time with the librarians in the
>> Business Library, we
>> have found that a lot of the information appears to be
>> solely in Italian and
>> due to the nature and complexity of the law, beyond my
>> comprehension."
>>

--
Daniel R. Cahoy
Assistant Professor of Business Law
Smeal College of Business
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY
310-J Business Administration Bldg.
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: (814) 865-6205
Fax: (814) 865-6284
E-mail: [log in to unmask]