ELENA IOSEF and LEEANNE FOOTMAN
<Contributors>
Throughout this semester you’ve probably seen advertisements for L&L meetings on Osgoode’s TV screens, you’ve gotten e-mails from us (perhaps a few too many), seen our Exec members wandering the halls, and wondered what exactly we’ve been up to. Well, even if you haven’t been wondering, we’re here to let you know what your student government has been working on for the past three months.
Used Book Exchange Website
Earlier this year, Legal and Lit Books was launched as a stand-alone website that allows students to connect with one another in order to buy and sell used books. With over 300 posted ads, the web-site was a heavily-used resource at the start of the semester. We’re looking forward to the service continuing in the future!
Updated L&L Website
The latest version of the L&L site is now housed on a much more user-friendly hosting site, allowing us to update students with news much more quickly. As well, the website now features a student events calendar and new summaries (please see below for details)!
Mental Health Awareness Week (Nov. 19th-21st)
This year L&L, the Osgoode Mental Health Law Society, and Osgoode’s administration were proud to bring you our first ever Mental Health Awareness Week. We strongly feel that it is L&L’s mandate not only build our community, but also support students as individuals. The week is aimed at starting a discussion around mental health in our law school environment and in Canada, teaching students coping mechanisms and finding ways in which our mental health resources and our culture as a whole can improve.
JCR Renovation
This past summer, L&L began negotiations with Osgoode’s administration and York in order to improve student space. Although generally functional, the JCR, in its state, felt more like an extension of the bistro than a gathering space where students can lounge and meet one another casually. L&L successfully convinced the Osgoode administration to help us make some significant changes to the space:
(1) Putting in a working sound system so that we can play music during student events [paid for by Osgoode]
(2) Installing cable TV [paid for by L&L]
(3) Installing a dimmable lighting system [paid for by Osgoode]
(4) Buying seven couches and five coffee tables [a cost of $14 700.64 shared equally by Osgoode and L&L]
(5) Removing the glass panels from the middle of the room so that students have a more unobstructed view of the room [paid for by Osgoode]
Affiliation with the Graduate Students’ Association
York requires all colleges and professional student programs to affiliate themselves with either the York Federation of Students (YFS) or the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA). For the past three years, Osgoode had been affiliated with neither organization, leading York to withhold $20 000 worth of funds from L&L as an incentive to enter negotiations with either YFS or GSA. Due to the fact that Osgoode students are completing a postgraduate degree like other GSA-affiliated professional students (such as York’s Schulich Business students), L&L will be finalizing negotiations with the GSA and York this semester.
Clothing Design and Sale
Our second year representative, Annie Chu, has finished designing some pretty snazzy Osgoode clothing. Some new items this year that you can look forward to are winter hats with pom poms, t-shirts with a student contest design, and wool cardigans with embroidered crests! We’re also bringing back some old favourites from last year.
Increased Social Programming
Last year, Thursday Pub Nights was a series of downtown events organized by several students, including our Social Convenor Alex Wilkins. The demand for frequently organized events where students can relax and chat was evident, as the pub nights were well attended. Thus, we incorporated the event series this year in our official programming. To supplement the pub night events, Legal and Lit instituted a theme night series to the JCR (which had to be equipped with a bar manager and several permits from York). From a Diwali celebration and an election night event to a Halloween pumpkin carve, JCR events have been well-received. We are excited to organize more events (such as next semester’s Arts Festival) that appeal to even more people!
Law Students’ Society of Ontario (LSSO)
On October 19th, six representatives of Legal and Lit and Student Caucus attended a two-day conference at Queen’s University, put on by the Queen’s Law Student Society. The conference invited representatives of student government from all six of Ontario’s law schools with a goal of creating a draft constitution for a new body – the LSSO. The LSSO, should it be ratified, will seek to be the medium through which law students in Ontario can present a unified position (even if that position has a majority and minority opinion) to the Law Society of Upper Canada and to government, solely on issues that pertain to law students. Student Caucus will be holding a town hall to discuss the mandate of the LSSO and obtain student feedback on the proposed organization early next semester.
Club Funding
This year, our club funding system was formalized. This, as previously mentioned, was an effort to inform clubs of all the possible ways they could receive financial support from L&L, to increase efficiency, and to decrease any arbitrary allocations of funds. This semester we have already given out more than $15 000 in funds. Next semester, we hope to give out another $15 000 to be shared between almost fifty clubs.
Updated Summaries
Our VP Internal, Leeanne Footman, worked tirelessly to sort through almost 600 summaries collected from the past three years. The final collection of summaries will be very shortly updated to our new website for student use!
Campus Safety
This past semester, L&L attended several meetings of York’s Student Representative Roundtable and Community Safety Meetings in order to learn what steps York is taking in order to increase physical student safety and the culture of safety on campus. A summary of York’s safety updates can be found in a previous article written by our Equity Officer, Camille Dunbar. On December 3rd, York’s Senior Advisor, Policy, Operations and Communications, Robert Castle, will be coming to Osgoode in room 1001 to give a presentation regarding safety at York to any interested students.
Student Graduation Photos
Although not a flashy item on our to-do list, graduating students received an opportunity to take their official Osgoode grad photo. Oh god you guys… we’re graduating.