Professor Huppin is an amazing professor! During lectures, you can tell that he really enjoys teaching the material and cares for his students. There were three thought papers, which were only 2 pages long. I thought they were pretty easy, seeing that you had to make an argument on a court case he assigned for that paper. There's only one timed midterm. He posted the midterm in the beginning of class and we had to turn it in before class ended. I thought the midterm was fairly easy if you had good notes on lecture and read the court case articles. The midterm consisted of a multiple choices and short answer questions. The final was similar to the midterm, but with more short answers. He assigns multiple of readings and supplemental reading for the court cases each week. If you attend lecture, read the articles, and study the powerpoints you should be fine.

[spring 2020 covid online quarter] Once Huppin subbed for one of my classes in Winter quarter I knew I had to take him. He was fantastic but I'll wager he would have been better in person. His teaching style revolves around asking students to discuss and critically think about the cases and legal debate issues he brings up in class. The same 10 students out of 100 ended up being the only ones talking week to week (you bet I was in the 90). He places an emphasis on showing up to class and engaging yourself (he only sent class recordings to students in other timezones/good reason for missing, he didn't post it for your general review/replay). If you don't listen and take notes, you will miss things, and his slides purposely only guide his lecture and cannot be relied on to help you study. That being said, idk if was because of that, or because of his engaging, very human and sensitive approach to the new circumstances of this quarter, % class attendance was really high every time. He also adjusted the class to talk about current events with COVID and BLM and stuff, very take it as you go guy.
There was a good amount of reading, which I didn't do very sincerely, but if you do scan over it, it lines up with the lectures pretty well and will help you do well on the tests. (Ah, I remember he said he usually assigns a course reader which I assume would be $$ but this quarter he uploaded everything online so I escaped paying for that ig, nice.) He also assigned 2 movies which were a good time, 8/10 (also gave us off class on the days we should watch those on our own, I think he usually shows them in class).
Grade was based on two tests. The questions to be honest weren't very straight-proceeding from the class material and really wanted to see whether you were thinking, which I think should be the point of school, but made it hard to figure out what to say in order to get the points.
In all, definitely take this class, but know that Huppin's teaching style almost certainly suits in-person the best.

Avoid taking huppin at all costs.
Huppin teaches evolutionary psychology, which is sexist, homophobic, and xenophobic. If you are female, an immigrant, and/or gay, you will be offended by him.
On top of that he also bores you to death with his monotone voice, while torturing you with trick questions on MC exams.

One of the best professors I have ever had! He is engaging, down to earth, and very fair. I don't have a particular interest for law but this was still one of my favorite classes! Midterm and final are also pretty easy--he really wants his students to do well.

Huppin clearly knows his stuff. A Stanford law graduate, he's knowledgeable about what he teaches, though his explanations can sometimes use some improvement. One of the only things that bothered me about him is how he answered questions- there were many instances someone would ask a simple clarification question on a powerpoint slide, and he would go off on a 10, sometimes 15 minute explanation that was clearly unnecessary and extraneous, sometimes not even answering the question directly.

That being said, I loved this course- first amendment law. Of course I don't know how the class compared to a real law school class, but Huppin planned the curriculum thoughtful and carried crucial themes along as we went through the weeks. The class was simply a lot of reading- about 70-100 pages of court cases per week. The midterm and final are very fair. I got scored a 88% on the midterm, 99% on the final, and came out of the class with an A. If you're at all interested in first amendment law, I highly recommend this course.

the most boring professor i ever encountered in the the cs dep next to kelly i suppose. his monotone voice will put you to sleep. thankfully, there are more dynamic figures to choose from like fink for example.do not recommend unless u r an insomniac.

Huppin is a great professor. I took 171 and 146 and although the courses are completely different, both classes were very interesting. Two simple papers, midterm and non cumulative final (146- both exams are multiple choice- tricky questions). He is very approachable and helpful, always responds to emails and definitely does not lecture on "murdering step-children, humans are robots, rape is an adaptation.. etc" It is obvious that the student does not fully understand the material and that is unfortunate. Overall, I would definitely recommend Huppin. He invites cool guest speakers, interesting video clips (anything from Finding Nemo to About Last Night). It is not an easy A but the material is very interesting!

I took 171 with Huppin last Spring and am currently taking 146 with him right now. Since all of these reviews are for 146, I wanted to write one about 171, but first I wanted to address the first posting. As is stated numerous times below, the first post regarding 146 is completely off-base. This class is interesting, informative, and does not in any way promote rape, murdering step-children or the other ridiculous claims this student has mistakenly heard. Huppin always presents a unbiased view and makes sure that we know that he isn't trying to preach a certain view. Anyway, just know this is class is a very interesting class, that is quite enjoyable. Two short papers, a multiple choice midterm and final, and interesting class discussions.

So onto 171. I really enjoyed this class. I remember Huppin saying something about how this class was taught like a law school class, but don't let that scare you. He is a very fair grader, usually curves, wants his students to do well, and is always there if you have questions about anything. This class centers on First Amendment Law and Huppin provides a nice variety of court cases that demonstrate some of the more interesting issues concerning freedom of speech and press. We covered free speech issues ranging from movie ratings to porn. The readings consist of court cases and the test are hypothetical situations to which you have to apply your knowledge of the court cases. I liked this class because it made me really think about the material I was learning. There isn't much memorization, he made it clear that he didn't just want students to come to the tests and write everything they had memorized. His tests are short answer so you we able to argue and defend your answers (having taken both his multiple choice and his short answer tests, I have to say I like the short answer better). Along with the midterm and final (which are not cumulative) there are two short papers which tend to be grade boosters. Don't let the law basis of this class scare you, it is still one of my favorite Communication Studies upper divs and I have taken quite a few of them.

Bottom line: take Huppin -- he is a cool professor, is concerned with student learning, makes sure his lectures and are engaging, shows funny clips and movies in class, gets guest speakers to come speak, tells good stories about his family, and is an extremely smart guy.

Hi, I would agree with the majority of people that the class is great!
Multiple-choice is a little bit tricky, but as long as you pay attention you are going to be fine! Two-short papers are easy, you apply the knowledge you learn and read to real life, and they are related to two films
Huppin uses a lot of videos in his presentations, which are very interesting and related to the material! The use of videos is awesome, especially when it is a 2-hour lecture!
Huppin is also very approachable and shows concern for his students!
Moreover, it is one of the classes (and there are not many of them) in which you can apply the knowledge you get to real life. Also, evolutionary psychology helps to explain life situations, you don’t have to live or pray on it :) but the parallels it draws with real life are understandable.
I guess, the main issue here is not religious beliefs (though they may play some role), it is the issues of gender. If you are a strong feminist and is not able to accept some other possible truth of life, then do not take the class!
Personally, I consider myself is somewhere in between… but I really enjoy the class!
Moreover, there is actually a reading on the issues of feminism and evolutionary psychology which says that feminists could use evolutionary psych for their benefits and be more persuasive than creating ridiculous arguments defending women’s rights.

"huppin is a decent professor. i'm not quite so sure why his reviews are so glowing"

To answer this reviewer'a question; it is very simple, Huppin posts a lot of glowing reviews himself, and/or asks students to write good reviews for him. This information comes from a reliable source within the CS department. Bottom line, discard the super positive reviews, because they are fake.