Law School Activity Reports

• Georgetown
• Santa Clara
• Indiana-Bloomington

Georgetown Law Environmental Law Forum
By Kristen

During the past year, the Georgetown Environmental Law Forum invited several distinguished speakers to campus including Executive Director of the Sierra Club, Carl Pope, who launched his tour promoting his new book, Strategic Ignorance, by speaking on campus on Earth Day. The group also hosted a panel forum of the energy advisors to the 2004 Democratic presidential candidates in November. Senator Kerry's energy advisor, David Hayes, participated. The transcript of the forum is available at
http://www.s-e-i.org/dem_forum_transcript1.pdf.

In an effort to make the campus more environmentally friendly, the Environmental Law Forum campaigned for the University to purchase 10% wind energy to power the school. Four hundred students signed a petition showing their support for the proposition and the Student Body Association passed a resolution supporting the proposal. The cost to students would have been less than $1 per month. On Earth Day students found out that the school had denied the proposal. The group is now redoubling their efforts by putting pressure on admissions by requesting that anyone who knows prospective law students to encourage them to contact the admissions office and tell them they won't apply to a school whose administration irresponsibly refuses to commit to wind energy purchasing. Prospective students can email admis@law.georgetown.edu with the title "wind energy is important to me", to voice their concern about the University's energy policy.

Santa Clara University ELS
By Lindsay Burrows

Thanks in large part to the hard work and organization of ELS president Elizabeth Pianca, the Santa Clara ELS will be co-sponsoring a Public Interest and Social Justice Summer Fellowship in environmental law this summer 2004 open to all Santa Clara University law students. The Santa Clara University Law School ELS Board established this fellowship program to fund a public interest position in environmental law after discovering a significant amount of excess funds in the Club account this past year.

In implementing the fellowship, the ELS board decided to contribute the excess funds back to the student body in a manner that would further the goals of ELS, including the encouragement and support of law students pursuing environmental work. The Public Interest and Social Justice Summer Fellowship program has generously agreed to supplement ELS's funds with existing summer fellowship endowment funds for a summer stipend designated for public interest environmental law. The fellowship program will select the student to receive this stipend based on the program's selection criteria. Although funding is only available for Summer 2004, the ELS board believes that the contribution will be beneficial by providing a framework to implement the fellowship in future years when funds are available again. In addition, the fellowship will raise awareness on campus of Santa Clara ELS's dedication to environmental law and encourage the Public Interest and Social Justice Summer Fellowship Program to recognize the importance of public interest work in environmental law when awarding summer stipends in 2005 and beyond.

For more information about the Public Interest and Social Justice Endowment visit: http://www.scu.edu/law/socialjustice/endowment.html.

Indiana School of Law
By Dave Campbell

This summer, the denizens of leafy Bloomington hung out with Brood X. They were sorely outnumbered. Every seventeen years, when the earth reaches a certain temperature, scads of cicadas emerge from underground layers, shake off the effects of extended slumber, sprout wings, and flit about for several weeks. The cicadas in these here parts belong to Brood X; other broods have different life cycles. Many regard the cicadas as pests, though they neither bite nor carry venom. Check out www.idsnews.com/features/broodx/ for the skinny.

Similarly, locals broodingly observe the transformation of the graduating senior class each spring. Like their red-eyed neighbors, each brood of baccalaureates leaves a mark on the landscape, often in the form of discarded furniture and bulging garbage bags. Before buzzing away to wherever it is life is taking them next, seniors shed a lot of stuff. Fear not.

Our ELS has found a way to make use of the would-be trash items and earn a few bucks. The past two years, we have held yard sales the weekend after commencement. The first year we grossed approximately $500; this spring we pulled in nearly $950. That's serious ka-ching!

The event has trifecta-appeal: it reduces the volume of trash sent to the landfill, it redistributes items from those who wish to discard to those who wish to use, and it boosts our budget. It provides us with free advertising too: we gladly discuss our programs with satisfied customers armed with lamp shades, bric-a-brac, and ginzu knives.

Want to excite bargain hunters in your communities and add a few trinkets to the bottom line? Follow these tips to ensure a rewarding and enriching Environmental Lawn Sale:

• Advertising - get the word out several weeks before the big day. Keep promotional costs low by using email, listservs, community bulletin boards, and word of mouth;
• Donations - ask all graduating individuals for donations; you'll be surprised by the generosity;
• Mimic UPS - set up a drop-off date/location for donations but also offer to pick up items, especially oversized effects. Trucks are especially handy;
• Furniture, Furniture, Furniture - it all sells, for more than you would expect;
• Creativity - don't rely on goodwill. Dumpster diving has yielded some of our highest sellers;
• Cajolery I - underscore the public interest nature of your group to entice giving;
• Cajolery II - approach beloved faculty and administrators for support, whether financial, in-kind or moral; and, last but not least,
• Pray For Sun
  

A special word of thanks to incoming IU School of Law ELS President Alison Waske, who shared 50% of the proceeds with NAELS. NAELS appreciates her largesse.

If your ELS is pressed for cash or looking to expand activities, consider hosting a lawn sale to supplement your other sources of revenue. If possible, earmark a portion of the proceeds for NAELS. If 15 schools apportioned 20% of receipts, and earned $500 apiece, that would add $1,500 to our coffers. Call now: friendly futons are standing by.