The advocate:
Chalmers goes to bat
when student rights
ignored or violated
By PAUL WALDSCHM1DT
Of the Emerald
Having legal troubles? Has
someone threatened to sue you or
take you to court? Do you wonder
if it's a good idea to sign that rental
agreement contract? You may be
able to find out the answer to
these legal questions from the Of
fice of Student Advocacy’s (OSA)
legal services division.
Legal services is one of three
divisions of the OSA, an ASUO
funded student service that looks
into legal problems students may
face. If you have a legal problem
and want to talk to a lawyer, legal
services can arrange it. The ser
vice contracts with a local law firm
to provide up to 30 hours a week of
client counseling time for stu
dents. The counseling is in the
form of legal advice and usually
does not include representation in
court.
However, there may be in
stances where the student will be
represented in court, according to
Don Chalmers, head of the OSA
He says if the case has special
merit in the sense that it is rep
resentative of a specific type of
legal problem students have en
countered, then we may go to
court because the case could re
solve a common student issue.
The legal services division al
most exclusively handles civil ac
tions. legal disputes between pri
vate parties as opposed to crimi
nal actions where the student may
face criminal charges filed by a
prosecutors office. If a student
faces criminal charges and is indi
gent. he may get help from the
OSA s student defender division
The student defender division
will help students who can t afford
an attorney o'n their own and face
criminal prosecution The division
uses third year law students from
the University s law school. These
students have been certified by
both the law school and the State
Supreme Court to represent
clients in court and are supervised
by an attorney who is a member of
the Oregon Bar Association
The student defender division
also represents students charged
with violations of the student con
duct code Code violations are
handled by an administrative
hearings process and the student
conduct court. Again, third year
law students are used and they
represent the student through the
entire hearings process.
The third division of the OSA is
research and development. This
division is concerned with in
depth research of administrative
and bureaucratic problems stu
dents may face, rather than strictly
individual legal problems. In the
past this division has looked into
student financial aid procedures.
Often this research or investiga
tion is published. The division re
cently published a handbook on
the federal rights of students, and
Chalmers says the division plans
to do a performance audit of the
business office in the near future.
Once an area of research is
selected by the OSA, Chalmers
says the project is contracted out
to independent professional re
searchers. Last year a lot of the
research activity was centered
around student lobbying efforts at
the state Legislature.
Don Chalmers
The ASUO s budget this year
for the OSA is about $50,000. The
bulk of the money. S21.700, goes
to the law firm that counsels stu
dents and supervises law stu
dents. The firm also acts as the
attorney for the ASUO and can
provide legal advice to ASUO offi
cials.
The research and development
division is budgeted $5,000 and
the student defender division is
budgeted $3,000. The remaining
amount, approximately $15,000,
is used for administrative operat
ing costs, which include
Chalmer s salary.
The OSA s offices are located in
Room 16 of the EMU, extension is
3710.
In addition to the legal services
provided by OSA, students may
receive help with legal problems
from a University law school ser
vice, Legal Connections. This
program is strictly a referral prog
ram run by law students and
sponsored by the law school. The
students cannot offer legal coun
sel or advice.
They will, however, listen to
your problem and, after evaluating
it, refer the caller to an appropriate
public or private agency that can
help with the problem. Callers are
often referred to Whitebird’s legal
service, the Legal Aid Society or
the county's CARES program.
The program does not maintain an
office, but students can locate the
service by telephone, 686-3829.
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