Suffolk University Law School’s NLG Chapter has been busy organizing and advocating this year. The goal was to bolster our ranks and try to build out our operational capacity. This goal has been largely achieved and we’re hoping to turn our attention towards even bigger and bolder ideas.
Our semester started with Disorientation event in September. We had the opportunity to educate around 30 1Ls about the ins and outs of how law school reproduces a specific kind of hierarchy. The presentation highlighted historic inequities that still plague the legal academy, the asymmetric power balance between the professor and the student, and the way the corporate world has largely captured the market for young attorneys. The success of this program was measured in a whopping 10 new members joining at the end.
From here, we turned our focus towards Student Debt. Our NLG student chapter’s President, Tim Scalona, as well as other members of our E-Board worked hard to secure a number of high-profile speakers. This included Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, MTA President Max Page, and MA State Representative Natalie Higgins, as well as local Professors, who spoke about the legal and political battle to end student debt and predatory lending. The event had some of the largest turn out of any Suffolk Law event this semester and was well received by the community at large.
We then teamed up with the Children and Family Law Association at Suffolk to host a panel on the Cradle-To-Prison-Pipeline. Drawing on the two different E-Board’s depth of experience the panel consisted of attorneys, professors, and social workers, such as Rebecca Greening of the Harvard Law School Family Justice Clinic and Stevie Lacey of Suffolk Law. The panel discussed the racial disparities in the system, how family policing is an extension of the carceral state, and the vision for a future system that prioritizes families instead of punitive solutions.
Looking forward, our Chapter is hoping to host a number of other panels and discussions, with one on homelessness and housing being our first priority for the start of the spring semester. NLG at SUSL is also looking to continue working with other organizations, and would love any other Boston area schools to reach out and plan an action or panel.
In solidarity,
The Suffolk Law NLG E-Board
Tim Scalona, President
Pearse McNally, Vice President
Michelle Kenyon, Treasurer
Jenna Dwy, Secretary and Chapter Liaison
Jon Brasley, Co-Recruitment Officer
Katerina Stephenson, Co-Recruitment Officer
Jenna Schroedel, Co-1L Representative
William Dewey, Co-1L Representative
