Happy Winter Semester Osgoode!
On behalf of Legal and Lit, I hope you all had a very cheerful winter holiday season. Looking back on the fall term, I am reminded of the privilege it has been to serve you as L&L President. I have been learning a lot along the way and look forward to redoubling my efforts this semester to bring to fruition, in collaboration with my colleagues on the Legal and Lit Executive, all the ideas with which I came to elected office.
I would also like to update you on a few items as we move into the winter of 2014.
Securing Financial Health for Legal and Lit into the Future
The December issue of the Obiter Dicta reported L&L’s current budget deficit.
Unfortunately, over the past few years, Legal and Lit governments ran deficit budgets: they were spending more than they were taking in. Luckily, at that time there was enough money in the bank to make up for the shortfall, preventing Legal and Lit from actually taking on any debt. However, this is obviously an unsustainable practice. If we don’t put in place a reasonable plan to eliminate the deficit, then our tradition, as Osgoode students, of benefitting from a diverse and active extracurricular life will be unduly threatened.
The 2013-2014 Legal and Lit Executive does not believe this would be fair, so we made a number of adjustments last fall to reduce the deficit. For example, 2L Rep Lucas Stevens-Hall worked tirelessly to revamp the clothing sale system so as to avoid holding large inventories of clothing that create surpluses, which may or may not eventually be sold. Thus, Legal and Lit will be saving money by permitting students to make orders on an item-by-item basis directly to the clothing provider (see below for more information on the clothing sale). We also put an end to funding pizza for regular club meetings, choosing instead to repurpose funding for more events benefiting a larger number of Osgoode students more broadly. We have also encouraged clubs to collaborate in co-hosting events so as to make our club funding dollars go even further. Clubs funding has not increased over the years, yet the number of clubs continues to multiply, so by reallocating clubs funding in this way, we have been more efficient in the way we fund extracurricular life at Osgoode. Further, Allison Williams, our VPX, was instrumental in getting the administration to agree to fund half of clubs’ IT and room rental fees, which will permit more L&L dollars to be put towards worthwhile club initiatives. Finally, under the leadership of Bar Manager Zorn Pink, we have transformed the way we operate the JCR in order to make it a revenue generator that provides funds that will be reinvested into extracurricular activities.
We opened up our books to all our members – you – in good faith and in accordance with our constitution, so that you could see for yourselves – warts and all – the financial position we are in today, and so that you could contribute democratically to the decisions Legal and Lit will be making to tackle the deficit.
As we work towards eliminating the deficit, however, one priority must be made clear: Legal and Lit will safeguard clubs funding, lest Legal and Lit become a mere shell of what it is supposed to be, that is, a forum for a positive and diverse law school experience. Therefore, we believe it would be unreasonable to eliminate the deficit overnight, and would rather put in place a workable plan for the coming years.
In the coming weeks, the Legal and Lit Executive will be considering a number of options to put in place a plan for eliminating the deficit over the near- to medium-term future. Our 1L, 2L and 3L Reps are there to hear your thoughts and recommendations, and will bring your ideas to the table.
Please know that our job is to advance our collective interest and that we are committed to working as hard as we can and in good faith.
Clothing Sale
The Osgoode Clothing Sale Website is up and running! I know many of you have been eagerly awaiting this moment. L&L is fully aware that the sale this year was slightly behind schedule and we are truly sorry for that. The sale required some major attention and changes to be made that took time to workout with our clothing provider. I hope that this creates a better customer experience for all of you. That being said here is the logistics surrounding the sale.
The clothing sale will no longer be run over a short two-week spans in the fall and winter semesters. Instead, we will have a full functional online store (https://www.drawsplash.com/osgoode) that would be accessible at your leisure. Purchases will be shipped directly to the address you provide online. There will be a small shipping charge (around $5.00) applied to each order. That being said, we encourage students in Passy or who live close together in the annex, downtown, St. Clair West, etc. to bundle there orders together to minimize these costs.
The clothing items this year are similar to last. This is because any new items would have taken much longer and likely would not have been ready for the holidays. In the New Year, L&L will explore potential new items when time is not as much of a factor. We encourage all in the Osgoode community to canvass us with any ideas for clothing items that they have interest in!
1L Update
This Winter Semester, the 1L Reps are looking forward to seeing you at the Dean’s Informal! This is a great chance to polish up your dance moves before things get “formal” next year. Also keep in mind: the end is near! Your Reps are committed to making sure that the end of semester party is one deserving of your Osgoode-sized 1L workload! Study hard and we’ll see you all there.
Tuition Transparency
Student Caucus and Legal and Lit have partnered to advocate for tuition transparency. Last fall, we established the Working Group on Tuition Transparency under the purview of Student Caucus. Since then, we have partnered with our counterparts as Lakehead, Windsor, Western, Toronto, Ottawa and Queen’s law schools to craft the Ontario Law Student Tuition and Financial Aid Survey. Collecting data about law students’ debt load and financial backgrounds is our first step towards effective advocacy with respect to relevant stakeholders on law school tuition. This follows the Tuition Townhall held last fall with Dean Sossin to keep students informed on the reasons behind the current cost of tuition as well as continued tuition increases. We will keep you informed on our next steps throughout the semester and to seek your participation as the campaign progresses.
Welcome New Clubs!
Welcome to the Osgoode Society Against Institutional Injustice (OSAII) and the Constitutional Law Club.
Also, congrats to OSAII on being mentioned in The Gleaner on December 6, 2013 with respect to racial profiling in Toronto: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/extra/article.php?id=3140. OSAII is looking to collaborate with other student clubs such as the Osgoode Hall Law Union, Black Law Students Association, and any other association that has issues related to institutional injustice as part of its objectives. If students would like to indicate their interest in joining the group or attendance they can email Knia Singh at georgesingh(at)osgoode(dot)yorku(dot)ca.
Students interested in the Constitutional Law club can contact Kevin Gillespie at ocls@osgoode.yorku.ca
Osgoode’s International Law Society is back!
If you would like to be a part of Osgoode’s International Law Society and receive email updates of exciting events such as the Canadian International Law Students Conference that will be taking place February 1st please send your name, email and year of study to cassandrastefanucci@osgoode.yorku.ca