Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 8, 2004)
An independent newspaper http://www.dailyemerald.com Ani DiFranco performs Page 7 Thursday, April 8,2004 Since 1900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Volume 105, Issue 129 Legal practices University law students lead the state in pro bono hours for a third consecutive year By Lisa Catto News Reporter University law students have won the Oregon State Bar's Pro Bono Challenge for the third time in as many years. The competition tracks pro bono hours donated by practicing attorneys and students at Oregon law schools. Jane Steckbeck, assistant director for Career Services at the Uni versity School of Law, said law students reported 11,214 pro bono hours in 2003, which makes up 71.5 percent of the state total of 15,686 hours. She added that at law clerk wages, the students' work was worth approximately $ 134,568. All the hours were performed by 112 law students.The law school faculty determined the definition of pro bono work as "work direcdy related to the delivery of legal services to indigent individuals by attorneys or organizations." It can also be work for an attorney on behalf of an organization, work related to the administration of the University's pro bono program or law-re lated work for different levels of the government, except law enforcement. A group of "passionate" law students who were already doing 1 pro bono work on their own started the program in 1996, Steck beck said. She added that students asked law faculty to make pro bono » work a part of graduation requirements, but the faculty voted to make the program voluntary and reevaluate it at a later time. It will most likely remain a voluntary program because the budget and funding aren't available to staff such a requirement, Steckbeck said. She said there are many reasons why law students participate in pro bono work. Some believe it is their professional responsi bility to provide access to justice for those who need it, and they have a deep desire to use their law experience to help people. Others turn to pro bono work to develop skills in law, build their ^ resumes and, they hope, obtain references they can use to get fu ture jobs. . She added that many students participate in pro bono work be cause it can lay a foundation for a career in public service. "I think there's a perception that public interest jobs are easy to get, perhaps because they're low paying," she said. "That's actual ly very untrue. Public interest jobs are very competitive and stu dents who volunteer with an organization have an advantage when it comes to hiring for a permanent position." Graduating third-year law student Sarah Drescher has been do ing pro bono work since her first year as a law student. She esti mates that she has done more than 200 hours of pro bono work, and tonight she will be receiving the law school's Outstanding Service Impact Award. Most of her pro bono hours have been spent working with the American Civil Liberties Union. She said the organization needed Turn to PRO BONO, page 4 Tim Bobosky Photographer Kristen Parcher, student chairwoman of the Public Interest Public Service program, works with fellow law student Jason Hartz at the Cascades Raptor Center off Fox Hollow Road Saturday. Senate agrees to reimburse USSA trip ASUO Vice President Morales questioned senators’ voting motives in regard to creating a student-issues committee By Jared Paben Senior News Reporter The ASLIO Student Senate compensat ed a controversial lobbying group $2,250 for its cross-country trip, and ASUO Vice President Eddy Morales hinted at govern mental racism as senators contemplated creating a new committee in a nearly four hour meeting Wednesday. Hie Senate voted 15-1 to pass a motion authorizing a funds transfer for the United States Student Association to allow the group to pay for a 15-member University student delegation trip to Washington, D.C. ASUO President Maddy Melton, who is a member of USSA, told senators that the students on the spring-break trip lobbied on behalf of University students. Sen. Colin Andries, who voted against the motion, said USSA is a lobbying group dial may not have the support of all students and shouldn't be funded with incidental fees. But Senate President Ben Strawn said USSA's mission and goals have already been approved, and die meeting was not the proper forum for such deliberation. Several senators questioned why USSA requested funds after the group had al ready paid for and taken the trip — not be fore. Plane tickets to Washington, D.C., were put on ASUO Accounting Coordina tor Jennifer Creighton-Neiwert's credit card, Morales said. Melton said she didn't request the funds before the trip because that would have meant appearing before the Senate Turn to SENATE, page 4 Candidate voting bloc PSST violates ASUO flyer rule The ASUO Elections Coordinator says the group improperly posted fliers on student group windows and doors in the EMU Wednesday By Jared Paben Senior News Reporter The Progressive Students Starting Today vot ing bloc violated ASUO election rules Wednes day when members posted multiple PSST fliers on student group doors on the bottom floor of the EMU, ASUO Elections Coordinator Stephanie Day said. According to election rules, campaign materi al promoting a specific candidate or group of candidates may be posted on public bulletin boards, but not on doors or windows. Day said the ASUO Elections Board will not punish the group for the violations because the board does not think it is a serious enough prob lem to warrant discipline. She added that the board does have the power to impose sanctions on candidates, including removal from the bal lot, if they determine circumstances justify it. "The election board's goal is to avoid going through the grievance process when a problem arises," Day said. "The elections board sees no reason to invoke anything. We asked them to take it down. They did. I see no need to take any further action." PSST, a group of 13 ASUO candidates, hopes to "give a voice to the voiceless who right now are the majority of the student population," ac cording to the group's platform. Day said she didn't know how many fliers were posted, but she said she removed a few. Af ter contacting PSST, members of that group "re moved others that 1 wasn't aware of," she said, adding that PSST members were all informed they couldn't post on doors. But PSST member Khanh Le called the rules "very vague," adding that the group was con fused by the "broad issues." "We've been working together to make sure nobody violates any rules," he said. "Most of the regulations out here are very vague." Section 6.2 of the ASllO elections rules states that "Campaign material may not be posted (affixed by any method) on, in or to any University building..." The provision cites several exceptions to the rule, such as distrib uting flyers in the EMU and posting them on bulletin boards.ASUO Student Senate candi date Spencer Hardy saw the fliers Wednesday and approached the elections board with his complaint. 1 lardy estimates he saw four or five Turn to PSST, page 4 WEATHER INSIDE NEXT ISSUE LOW 40 HIGH 68 Campus buzz.4 Classifieds.15 Commentary.2 Crossword.15 Pulse.5 Sports.13 Students use GPS for geocaching
