ELENA IOSEF
<Legal & Lit President>
Hi everyone! My name is Elena Iosef and I am the 137th President of the Legal and Literary Society of Osgoode Hall Law School. Now that we’ve gotten the obligatory formal introduction out of the way, I would like to say that the rest of the Legal and Literary Society members and I are incredibly happy to welcome you to a new year at Osgoode! Whether it is your first time here or your millionth (or perhaps you never left and have been living in the cubby space above the Moot Court), Osgoode will always have something new to offer. Legal and Lit (or L&L) in particular has worked hard this summer to make improvements to the Osgoode student experience. Here is what we want to share with you:
Orientation Week 2012
Our Orientation Week Committee, led by chair Jon O’Kane and vice-chairs Stacy McFarlane and Carla Lamb have helped organize an amazing week for the incoming class! From a trivia night to a snazzy reception to top the week off, first year students have a lot of fun to look forward to.
1Ls: although you’ll be split off into sections and will compete in various silly events against each other, please make an effort to meet students in other sections, as everyone in your year is worth getting to know. Everyone is a Gryffindor here. You were all chosen for a unique reason. I promise you, your first year experience will be easier and much more rich if you create a wide support group. I challenge you to use this week to forge new friendships and discover your voice in our community.
Health and Dental Plan Cancellation
As we mentioned in a previous e-mail, the L&L will no longer be providing a Health and Dental plan for Osgoode students. The 2012-2013 Executive came to this decision after debating the functionality and necessity of the plan and also after considering the results of last year’s referendum, which were overwhelmingly in favour of the cancellation.
Creation of a Used Book Exchange Website
Let’s face it guys. While nicely bound law books impress your grandmother, they make a sizeable dent in your student debt. Hundreds of students want to buy inexpensive used books, and even more students want to sell them. In order to facilitate these exchanges, Legal and Lit has created a used book exchange web-site. The site is free to use with your Osgoode e-mail address: http://legalandlit.ca/books/
Updating of the JCR
“But the school just finished the Junior Common Room! What more could you do with it?” We say: “so much more!” This summer L&L consulted with the administration in order to make the space better suited to student needs. Although the JCR renovation process is still underway, you can look forward to the addition of cable TV, an enlarged lounge area with couches, an updated music system and new lighting!
Social Calendar
This year’s Social Convener, Alex Wilkins, and the rest of the L&L exec and student clubs will be working together to create an updated social calendar. The calendar will be posted on our web-site once the feature is built in. Look forward to this change in the upcoming semester. We have also come up with interesting event ideas and can’t wait to share them with you!
Increased Mental Health Support for Students
Although there are psychological services available on campus, York’s services are limited and very strained. L&L lobbied for student mental health support to be prioritized, and was happy to learn that the administration had created the position of an Osgoode-specific student success and wellness counselor. Osgoode found who they were looking for in the approachable and supportive Melanie Banka Goela. She can be reached by e-mail at mgoela@osgoode.yorku.ca and by phone at (416) 736-5597.
Legal and Lit, along with the Mental Health Law Society will be working with Ms. Banka Goela in order to organize several events aimed at informing students about mental health issues faced by the legal community in Canada and mental health resources available to students at Osgoode and in Ontario.
A Clearer Club Funding System
Our new Vice President External, Erin Dand, consulted with clubs this summer and helped craft a clearer funding system for student organizations. We hope that the new rules will help keep clubs informed about all the ways we can support them! If you have any questions for Erin, you can contact her at legalandlitvpx@osgoode.yorku.ca.
Building of Institutional Memory
Judging by the documents we have on record, you would think that L&L is a burgeoning young organization instead of a 137 year old geezer. This coming year, we are not only making year-end reports mandatory, but we are also ensuring that samples of all executive endeavours (such as clothing, yearbooks, etc) are kept in L&L’s possession. We have already implemented a digital storage system and hope that these measures will make the jobs of future L&L executives much easier so that they don’t have to start from scratch.
While we’ve accomplished a lot this summer, we’ve got so much more in store for everyone! If you’d like to join our team, please consider running for one of the following available positions later on in September:
-1L Representative (2 positions available)
-Equity Officer
-Vice President Internal
Goodbye for now everyone! If you have any comments or concerns, please contact us at legalandlit@osgoode.yorku.ca. We’d love to hear from you.