Division offers students low-cost legal aid
By JIM ALLEN
Of the Emerald
The cost of legal counsel in
today s world has been skyrocket
ing everywhere — except at the
University.
The Legal Services division of
the ASUO has provided low-cost
legal counsel to students since
1969. Legal Services, located in
Room 16 m the EMU basement, is
supported by an annual $22,000
ASUO grant, and utilizes the ser
vices of two lawyers and three
work-study students.
Robert Ackerman, a University
graduate and lawyer, has worked
in Legal Services since 1971,
when the program was first
funded by the ASUO Ackerman
shares the work load with Helen
Rockett on a combined 30-hour
work week, seeing students by
appointment and helping them
solve legal problems
“We serve about 1,500 to 1,700
students a year, and help 85 to 95
per cent of those students with
their particular legal problems,
said Ackerman, "We receive
about $20,000 from the ASUO for
our operating budget ($2,000
goes to the work-study students),
so our cost to the average student
per year is only $1.50. That's only
about 50 cents a term."
Legal Services covers a wide
variety of legal affairs in the cam
pus community, including
landlord-tenant relationships, real
estate problems, shoplifting and
auto insurance. Usually these
problems can be settled in small
claims court, in which case 'egal
services will represent the student
for only a small fee.
Landlords are a typical problem
for some University students. This
usually involves payment of a
"damage deposit' to cover any
damage the student may cause.
Often, the landlord refuses to re
turn this deposit at the end of the
contract Legal Services can in
tervene on the side of students,
provided they haven't actually
damaged the landlord's property.
Remedies culture shock, confusion
Center orients students to new society
By DAVID KENSLER
Of the Emerald
Culture nights featuring dinners, films,
speakers and dances focusing on the ethnic
traditions of a specific country will be more
prevalent on campus next term if Anjum Kazi,
the new director of the Foreign Student Or
ganization (FSO), has his way.
Kazi was appointed to the FSO post about
three weeks ago, although he has been in
volved with the organization as a volunteer for
nearly three years Kazi says one of his goals
is to spark interest in FSO among both foreign
and native students
We are trying to get more people aware of
this organization," he says Kazi explains that
the FSO is a service available to all University
students It is made up of sub-organizations
with each country having its own group. Cur
rently there are 69 countries represented on
campus.
Kazi says the FSO is remodeling and ex
panding its reference library and he encour
ages students who are planning to visit or have
a certain interest in another country to come to
the FSO office or its reference library for infor
mation.
All foreign students coming to campus are
automatically members of the FSO, says Kazi.
Currently, 600 of the 764 registered foreign
students are represented by the FSO. The
others are represented by the Chinese Stu
dent Association.
According to Kazi, who is from Pakistan, the
FSO is here to help foreign students with their
problems
"Most foreign students go through complete
culture shock when they come over here, he
says. He feels that as director he is better able
to cope with the problems that foreign students
encounter than a native citizen.
“I feel that I have an advantage because I
am a foreign student and I know the people
and their traditions," Kazi says. "Ive been
through the same culture shock these students
have been through."
He says his culture shock was less intense
than what most foreign students face because
a good friend came along to help him get ac
quainted with things.
"I was a little unsure of myself and my En
glish was not good,” says Kazi. However, I
lived in the dorms and I gradually became ad
justed to society:"
The FSO helps put on a foreign orientation
program at the beginning of the school year to
help foreign students overcome any problems
they may encounter Checking accounts and
how to obtain one, academic advising, money
exchanges, language problems and transpor
tation are among the topics discussed.
Foreign students are also given a
“guidebook for international students” to help
facilitate their transition. They are also encour
aged to become acquainted with the FSO and
the services it offers. The FSO office is in 203
EMU, telephone 686-4387.
Sheer ignorance or tne
service’s existence has kept down
the office’s workload, according to
Ackerman, who estimates only
about one-third of University stu
dents know about Legal Services.
Among the more common aids
rendered by Legal Services are
name changes, "union dissolu
tions" or divorces and expunc
tions of criminal records. "We get
about 70 or 80 name changes
each year," Ackerman said, “and
it costs the student nothing."
The entire concept of prepaid
legal services is not new. The
concept has been employed by
labor unions and others for some
time, but it was only eight years
ago that universities began to
adopt the idea.
In 1969, the University of
Texas, the University of Mas
sachusetts and the University of
Oregon began a program which
has since spread to literally hun
dreds of colleges and universities
throughout the nation.
Legal Services emerged here
after the ASUO found it necessary
to seek legal counsel to solve a
financial dispute with the ad
ministration. Two years later, in
1971, the ASUO began to fund
Legal Services in its present form
During the last few years, the
scope <5 legal services has in
creased steadily, expanding
areas in which it can represent
students. The director of the
ASUO’s Office of Student Advo
cacy who oversees the division's
operations is collecting a group of
law students to research certain
legal problems, lightening the load
on Ackerman and his staff
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