What should a professor do when students violate a clearly-stated word limit? Assuming the answer is not, "ignore it," what remedy is appropriate? This question (by Steve Vladeck) has produced a surprisingly lively comment thread at Prawfsblawg. I weigh in a few times.

For what it's worth, when grading papers, I usually state ahead of time an explicit if vague remedy-- that a paper that exceeds the length must make up for it in superior quality. The vigor of this thread is making me contemplate replacing it with a harsher rule, though.

In need of an academic pep talk earlier today, I was hunting for this quote, only to google it and discover that I had posted it barely over a year ago:

A free mind is apt to err-- most mutations in thought, as well as in genes, are neutral or harmful-- but because intellectual growth flows from the best of today standing on the shoulders of the tallest of yesterday, the failure or most scholars and their ideas is unimportant. High risk probably is an essential ingredient of high gain.