October 1999
Animal Law Cited by
New York Times
FROM THE SBA PRESIDENT
October 21, 1999
Dr. Michael Mooney
President, Lewis & Clark College
Campus Box 33
Dear Dr. Mooney:
As you are likely aware, law students recently had the chance to meet with Dean Huffman and Jon Wiener to learn the current status of the plans for expansion of the law school's buildings, and the plans were again discussed at the October 18 "Pizza with the Dean" meeting. Attached is a resolution adopted by the Student Bar Association (SBA) on October 3, prior to the public meetings with Dean Huffman and Mr. Wiener. The resolution highlights the student needs that SBA feels should be addressed during Phase One of the Building Plan.
My thoughts on several matters of concern to the students follow. This letter is written in my capacity as President of the Student Bar Association and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Student Bar Association as an entity.
Students have expressed concerns about the recent recommendation to install side by side study carrels in the Boley expansion rather than quads. Please see the second item on the attached resolution. Dean Huffman and Mr. Wiener have explained that new quad carrels will be added in the space where the library staff offices are presently located and that the new side by side study carrels will provide adequate desktop area, will employ adequate partitions to protect privacy, and will help to provide one option among a variety of study settings. Judging by the subsequent statements of students who attended the public meetings to speak on this issue, the explanations of Dean Huffman and Mr. Wiener have ostensibly satisfied student concerns.
On the other hand, from the students' perspective, the most disappointing change to the plans has been the deletion from Phase One of all work to Gantenbein.1 This change greatly prejudices students by depriving us of solutions originally planned to meet our immediate needs. Please see the third, fourth, and fifth items on the attached resolution.
I strongly suggest that you reinstate the plans for work on Gantenbein, or, in the alternative, come up with a way to adequately satisfy the student needs that would have been met by this work. These needs include adequate shower facilities, adequate locker space, adequate mailbox space, and adequate student group space. If these needs are not promptly met, many prospective law students will be forced to evaluate enrollment at Lewis & Clark, with our inadequate facilities and disruptive long-term construction to begin this summer, against enrollment at other schools, such as the University of Oregon with its state of the art William H. Knight Law Center.
Another problematic aspect of the building plans is the paved pedestrian path that may be constructed from the emergency exit at the southwest corner of the expansion through the woods to the amphitheater. A majority of students who have expressed their sentiments about this path feel that it would unnecessarily intrude into the law school's natural surroundings and would diffuse the central nature of campus traffic flow. Please see the sixth and seventh items on the attached resolution. Mr. Wiener has conceded that the path would diffuse the central nature of campus traffic flow and has publicly stated that the path could feasibly be rerouted to the area adjacent to the Boley expansion. I strongly recommend the adoption of this alternative.
On October 18 Dean Huffman informed students that the present plan is to fully outfit all three law review areas in the Boley expansion from the outset. I hope that Animal Law and International Legal Perspectives2 will be allowed to share the third law review space, yet I am somewhat unclear on whether this is the present plan, and I would appreciate any enlightenment you can provide. The recent decision to delete work to Gantenbein from Phase One heightens the need for adequate space for student groups and publications, which is already at a premium. In short, even the little bit of space presently occupied by Animal Law and International Legal Perspectives is extremely valuable as potential space for student groups.3 If all four student-managed legal publications are not provided space in the Boley expansion, even less space will be available in Gantenbein for apportionment among student groups.
The office space in the Boley expansion planned for Lewis & Clark's environmental clinic, the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center (PEAC), is inadequate by any measure. The proposed space for the clinic contains only 214 square feet, even less than the space presently occupied by the clinic. PEAC is a significant asset to the school because it offers students interested in environmental law with hands-on experience supervised by experts. Approximately seventeen students receive class credit for working with PEAC each semester, yet office space for students to work on PEAC cases is virtually nonexistent. 214 square feet is not adequate to house PEAC's director, staff attorney, ever-growing files, and student work space.
As Mr. Wiener and Dean Huffman have noted in the public meetings with students, the exotic English ivy and blackberry species are literally choking off native plants on College-owned property in Tryon Creek Forest. This issue is of preeminent importance to the health of our forested property, yet students only hear of its importance from the College when the College wishes to develop in an area containing exotics. The issue should be addressed directly rather than as justification for development. All forested College-owned property in Tryon Creek should be stripped of exotic species and replanted with native species during Phase One.
Many law students are interested in any plans to implement green technology in the Boley expansion. To date we have been given very little information on any measures planned to allow the law school to incorporate recycled materials, use less electricity, and generate less waste. Inclusion of green technology would not only be responsible, it would also be a selling point for our environmental law program. Recently Vermont Law School pulled ahead of Lewis & Clark in the U.S. News & World Report ranking for the #1 spot among environmental law programs. Vermont's much publicized new green building undoubtedly influenced its reputation among U.S. News survey participants. I would appreciate detailed information on the architects' green technology plans.
Last, but certainly not least, is recognition of the fact that up to fifty parking spaces at the law school will be removed from operation this summer because of the Boley expansion—half of them permanently. I strongly endorse any efforts to further enhance our already successful alternative transportation program that would in turn reduce parking demand. Unless we achieve further reductions in drive-alone commuter traffic, I predict that you will hear many complaints from irritated commuters who will be forced to pay the $150 fee yet will not be able to locate a parking space. I feel that the answer is not to construct additional parking spaces. Rather, I have confidence in the ability of our students and staff to further reduce drive-alone commuting through the provision of sustainable, sensible, and cost-effective alternative transportation measures.
Thank you for the opportunity to express my concerns in detail. If you need clarification or further information regarding anything in this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards,
Nathan J. Baker
President, Student Bar Association
cc: Jon Wiener; Law Faculty; Student Faculty Committee Representatives; Student Building Committee Representatives; Rob Roy Smith, Editor in Chief, Animal Law; Bryan Theis, Editor in Chief, International Legal Perspectives; Editors, Letter of the Law.
1
The administration's failure to involve students in the
process that resulted in the deletion of work to Gantenbein
compounds our frustration. In July, I was asked to attend a
meeting between myself, Mr. Wiener, Lee Gadinas, and the two
student Building Committee representatives, Michael Fleming
and Glenn Fullilove. The sole reason we met was to discuss
how best to satisfy student needs with the work to
Gantenbein. Apparently at some point between that meeting
and late September, the Building Committee met to discuss
cost-saving measures to the overall plan. The student
Building Committee representatives were neither invited to
nor even informed about this meeting, at which the deletion
of work to Gantenbein was discussed. Mr. Wiener's September
29, 1999 memo to the law faculty erroneously states that the
Committee recommended the deletion of all work to
Gantenbein, when in fact the Committee decided to table the
issue pending further input from the campus community. The
end result of these events is that the deletion of work to
Gantenbein has become a foregone conclusion. Student input
carries less weight now than it would have during the
initial discussions.
2 Both Animal Law and International Legal Perspectives serve important functions by adding to our school's reputation and by being the only two journals that allow participation by students during their first year. Animal Law is recognized worldwide for being the nation's first and only scholarly publication devoted solely to animal legal issues and has recently risen in prominence with a front page article in the New York Times, a lengthy article in The Oregonian, and a recent independent reputation study ranking Animal Law 87th among 285 specialized journals. International Legal Perspectives, which has enriched our campus for a decade, is presently strengthening its subscriber base with a major subscription drive, restoring its publication process to a regular schedule, and devoting an upcoming issue solely to the Lockerbie Trial.
3 Presently, two closet-like 92-square-foot offices in Gantenbein provide shared space for the student government (SBA), the law school's campus newspaper (Letter of the Law), two student-managed scholarly legal publications (Animal Law and International Legal Perspectives), and four student groups (International Law Society, National Lawyers' Guild, Phi Delta Phi, and Student Animal Legal Defense Fund). That amounts to only 23 square feet per entity.