NEWS
4 Obiter Dicta
A Message from your Student Caucus Chair
As law school continues to change, Student Caucus
continues to advocate for students
jeffrey hernaez › student chair
W
elcome back osgoode, I hope you
all had a great summer. It feels like just
yesterday that I was a scared and naive
first year and it is quite surreal to be in
my third and final year. Having first joined Caucus as
a 1L Rep, I have always been committed to listening to
student concerns and finding ways to help to improve
the student experience here at the law school. As
such, I am thrilled to be your Student Caucus Chair
this year. With a number of returning Caucus members, a complement of new members, and soon to be
elected first year reps, we are very excited to work
with the student body, the faculty, and the administration. Student Caucus is here to serve you – please
feel free to contact any of us throughout the year with
any questions or concerns.
It is a very interesting time to be a law student, with numerous events and issues developing
outside the walls of Osgoode soon to directly affect
the student body. These subjects include the new Law
Practice Program (LPP) and the continually increasing cost of legal education. There are also internal
issues that will shape the Osgoode experience for
current and future students, such as the structure of
the JD program and the development of Osgoode’s
commitment to experiential learning. It is my hope
that Student Caucus will always play a part in ensuing
that students are getting the most out of their three
years here. Here is a sample of the issues that Student
Caucus will be keeping an eye on during the school
year.
1. Engaging the Student Body
Student Caucus would like to find more effective ways
to reach out and engage with students. One of our
goals this year is to hold informal sessions on specific
subjects for students to come and discuss with their
t humbs down
Mike Tyson endorsing Rob Ford as the “best
mayor in Toronto history.”
representatives. There are a few issues that Student
Caucus could better inform the student body about
and gather input from students. These issues include:
the bell curve in small classes, tuition transparency,
the bursary process, and the LPP.
2. Working with the LSSO
The Law Students’ Society of Ontario (LSSO) will be
a new relationship that Student Caucus will need to
develop and we are thrilled to work inaugural president and fellow Ozzie Douglas Judson. Our goal is to
create a framework for this by amending our by-laws
so that Caucus works with the LSSO on its own terms,
but in a way that also allows us to advocate on issues
common to Ontario Law Students. With three representatives on the LSSO council, Osgoode students
will continue to be strong leaders.
3. Continuing to Advocate on Ongoing
Issues
Finally, there are internal issues that Student Caucus
will continue to work on with the hopes of finding
resolutions at Faculty Council. For instance, in one
of my previous Obiter articles, I discussed how the
Academic Policy and Planning Committee (APPC)
is considering reforming the application of the bell
curve in small classes. In short, the applicabi ƗG