You may be wondering what exactly L&L does at Osgoode. Before joining the executive this year, I didn’t quite understand the breadth of activities that L&L supports or leads. I thought of it as your typical student government offering social events here and there. I also thought of it as a fairly insulated group (for a student government at least) which is why I am writing this article to demystify L&L. I’m hoping to open up more lines of communication between the student body and its student government.
A question I often get (and one that I had myself) is what is the difference between L&L and Student Caucus. Let’s clear the air on that first: both are arms of student government, formed by elected students serving various functions. The main difference is that L&L serves the social and communal interests of Osgoode students, whereas Student Caucus serves the academic (i.e., course content, faculty relations, or the library) interests of Osgoode students.
Now what exactly do I mean when I say the “social and communal interests” of Osgoode students? A list of these interests include: yearbooks; the JCR bar; orientation week; a summary database; the annual ski trip; pub nights; the 1L formal; the 2L informal formal; the 3L law prom; all student clubs, including their office spaces, funding, and general support; Mental Health Week; graduation photos; and special ceremonies (e.g., for Remembrance Day).
But this list is nowhere near exhaustive, mainly because I can’t remember everything and also because what a group achieves depends on how much individual members want to achieve. So let’s call this list the bare minimum, but we are a student government here to serve the student body and our work can’t be limited to any one list. That famous law-school-professor-answer comes to mind: “It depends.”
Earlier in the school year you may have heard of the “Student Choice Initiative”, which was marketed by the provincial government as a way to save university students money, or at least give them the option of saving. The big joke is that with the Student Choice Initiative, Osgoode students could save a whopping $162.18 per school year, which seems like pocket change when tuition costs nearly $26,000. That’s not even a 1% saving; it’s barely over half a percentage point.
The really disappointing fact is that over 22% of our student body opted out of L&L’s fees.
I really encourage every student to take advantage of what L&L has to offer and if you feel L&L does not offer it already, make some suggestions. We can be contacted at:
- President (Genevieve Giesbrecht): president@legalandlit.ca
- Vice-president internal (Rachael Glassman): vpinternal@legalandlit.ca
- Vice-president external (Ashley Jung): vpexternal@legalandlit.ca
- Treasurer (Mahir Mohamed): treasurer@legalandlit.ca
- Secretary (Shvata Chopra): secretary@legalandlit.ca
- Equity officer (Alannah Marrazza-Radeschi): equity@legalandlit.ca
- Social convenor (Karin Kazakevich): social@legalandlit.ca
- 3L representative (Chadd Pirali): thirdyear@legalandlit.ca
- 2L representative (Aiishwariya Haran): secondyear@legalandlit.ca
- 1L representative, section A (Reilly Everitt-Cunningham): sectiona@legalandlit.ca
- 1L representative, section B (Alex Mulligan): sectionb@legalandlit.ca
- 1L representative, section C (Phoebe Goldig): sectionc@legalandlit.ca
- 1L representative, section D (Jacob Braun): sectiond@legalandlit.ca
You can also visit us in Room 0014E at Osgoode at these times during the fall semester (we will have new office hours next semester): Monday at 9:00-10:00 (Alex, Section B 1L Representative), 12:30-1:30 (Shvata, Secretary), 1:30-2:30 (Phoebe, Section C 1L Representative), and 4:30-5:30 (Reilly, Section A 1L Representative); Tuesday at 10:30-12:30 (Ashley, VP External), 1:30-2:30 (Rachel, VP Internal), 3:30-4:30 (Karin, Social Convenor); Wednesday at 11:30-12:30 (Genevieve, President), 2:30-3:30 (Alannah, Equity Officer); and Thursday at 12:30-1:30 (Mahir, Treasurer), 1:30-2:30 (Aiishwariya, 2L Representative), 2:30-3:30 (Chadd, 3L Representative), and 3:30-4:30 (Jacob, Section D 1L Representative). The timetable is also on our door!
This article is the second of a series of L&L submitted content to the Obiter. Our vice-president internal, Rachael Glassman, wrote about the Student Choice Initiative’s day in court in Obiter’s last issue. Make sure to check it out! Stay tuned for the next edition!