UNIVERSITY Public interest fund is helping out law students By Jason Keuter Emerald Contributor The rewards of pursuing a career in public interest law rarely include the reward of fi nancial gain. With escalating tuition prices and smaller fi nancial aid packages, more and more law students are graduat ing heavily in debt. These financial facts mean students will usually avoid low-paying public Interest work because first-year salaries don't leave room for paving off their debts. Two years ago, a group of University law students found ed . the Oregon Law Students' Public Interest fund. Because of the low or non-existent sala ries for legal interns in the pub lic interest field, Ol.SPIK was founded to provide financial assistance to students wishing to work in public interest posi tions. 1A student would find it difficult... to keep up with their student loan payments on a first-year, public interest law job.’ - Diane Coyne, OLSPIF co~directur in tin: spring of 1990, OLSPIF conducted its first pledge drive Law students and faculty were asked to pledge one day of their summer salary to the fund. The drive raised $7,000. Diane Con rad i and Dob Shavelson were the first recipi ents of OLSPIF stipends, get ting SI,000 and $2,500 respec tively. During the summer of 1990, Conradi worked for DNA Legal Services, an American Indian legal assistance organization in Mexican Hat, Utah. Shavelson was a legal intern at the Natural Resource* Coun cil of Maine. He is presently in terning for Son. F r a n k Luutenburg, D-N.J , In Washing ton DC., and will return to the law school winter term OLSPIF was able to award throe stipends for summer 1991. One recipient, second year law student Michele Co ker, received u 52,500 stipend. Coker worked for the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence from May until mid-August. Coker said she came to the law school to pursue public in terest law, particularly wom en's legal issues. I want to neip women use the legal system to their advan tage," she said. Coker credits getting her cur rent job at the University's Of fice of Student Advocacy to tho contacts und experience she gained from her internship. "It's openod up career oppor tunities 1 wouldn't have had be fore, " sho said. Coker deals with issues of sexual discrimi nation at hor new job as well. She is also a co-director of tho Women's Law Forum. The number of stipends available for summer 1992 will be determined after OLSPIF collects pledges made during last spring's pledge drive. Last year. 14 students applied for ihe throe available stipends Any law student In g(x>d aca domic standing can apply for a stipend Applicants must sub mil an essay telling why they want to work in public Interest law. They must also get u letter from a prospective employer, and that employer must dem onstrate an inability to pay for that student's work, said l)LSI’IF on-director Diane Coyne. The job must last for at least 10 weeks and not extend Into fall term Although students are free to work for groups that may do political lobbying, the student's work cannot be di reeled toward lobbying efforts "Wo don't want to discour ago students from working for organizations that may have a political agenda." C.oyno said "But because of our tax status its u non-profit organization, thut student cannot lobby them sitlvrs, nor cun their work be directed toward thut mid." \pplications are anonymous and are reviewed by a com bined student/faculty commit tee Coyne said shit hopes tii.it OLSl’l!-' will eventually estub Ush u fund to assist graduates with debt payments who go into public interest law "A student would find il dif ficult, if not Impossible, to keep up with their student loan pay ments on a first year, public in terest law job," she said Such a lund would expand Oh Si’ll-" s efforts to encourage students to go Into public inter est law, an area of law students are finding increasingly diffi cult to commit to because of fi nancial burdens TRACK TOWN PIZZA Offers The ULTIMATE LUNCH SPECIAL ALL YOU CAN EAT SALAD BAR AND UNLIMITED TRACK TOWN PIZZA $ Th.it ' Riqht' All YOU 0,m Possibly LA I' <)f [he Bnst Li//n I bis Sick1 ()f Anyu. Ik'iv M F 1 1 am 1 p.m TRACK TOWN PIZZA 1809 Franklin • 484 2799 — \ It y