The 2023-2024 SBA has been hard at work building community, promoting transparency, and advocating for the CSU Law student body. As the semester comes to a close, and as we begin to turn our attention to next year, we thought we should give you a snapshot of what we’ve done this year:
Led the fight to lift the ban on paid externships, including:
Researching and drafting a comprehensive 42-page proposal to lift the ban and introduce private firm placements;
Holding a Listening Session attended by more than 40 students and faculty members to discuss the impact of the ban;
Holding dozens of meetings with students, faculty, practitioners, and staff to evaluate the issue from all angles;
Engaging the student body on the issue with two surveys (which each had well over a hundred responses), regular Gavel article updates, social media, and posters, including speaking out when we were concerned about the way the school was handling the decisionmaking process; and
Meeting with the Ad Hoc Committee on Externships to work toward a solution of the issue, including drafting a memorandum suggesting possible ways to implement private firm placements without creating an excessive administrative burden.
Working with the journal editors, successfully advocated for the school to offer an additional credit hour for journal associates to reflect the work they put into their publications.
Successfully advocated for student involvement in the faculty decision on whether to change the semester schedule, including drafting and circulating a student survey (which had 159 responses) and presenting the results to the faculty.
Responded to declining bar passage rates by contacting and following up with the CSU bar readiness team to ensure that they are putting together an action plan, then shared said plan with the student body.
Responded to student concerns by advocating for improvements to the JDO program, including more live interactions with professors, better fitting residency weekends around the academic calendar, expanding networking opportunities (including connecting students with employers in their areas), clarifying how experiential learning will work, and offering better legal writing support.
Responded to student concerns by working with the administration to draft and circulate a student survey on issues around class scheduling.
Improved transparency by sharing meeting agendas, meeting minutes, and zoom links for SBA meetings with the student body.
Welcomed two representatives from the brand-new JDO program and began transitioning leadership of the Part Time, Dual Degree, and Non Traditional Students Committee to JDO students.
Commemorated Hispanic, LGBTQ, Native American, Black, Women’s, and Arab history months.
Helped promote the upcoming Denim Day to help commemorate sexual assault awareness month.
Successfully advocated for expanding exam review hours to accommodate evening students.
Wellness Committee ran the SBA Student Support Hour to create a peer led space for both full time and evening students to provide support and community.
Provided over 600 hours of store/office hours to make ourselves available to our peers for questions or concerns.
Participated in multiple admitted students' events.
Participated in 1L student orientation.
Conducted an SBA Member of the Month program to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of our outstanding peers.
Awarded Faculty and Staff Member of the Year.
Performed a full review of the election guidelines to remove ambiguity and improve consistency.
Performed a full review of the SBA Constitution to improve clarity and accountability.
Distributed over $31,000 in university funds to student organizations in the face of over $10,000 in funding cuts.
Funded Barrister's with half the university funding as last year.
Participated in the CSU Alumni Association board meetings.
Successfully provided multiple budget request training courses for student orgs in addition to a number of one-on-one training courses, as needed.
Participated in new faculty and staff interviews.
Planned numerous events, including Barrister’s Ball and a successful fundraiser at Porco’s Lounge and Tiki Room.
Provided coffee and donuts during finals.
Managed the President’s Council to gather student org presidents and leaders to share ideas, create collaborations, share calendars, and provide resources for continued success.
Ongoing
Finalize Constitutional language splitting the LLM and MLS Senator position into two positions, thereby allowing the LLM and MLS programs to each have their own representative in SBA.
Finalize Constitutional language allowing LLM students to run for one-semester terms in order to make it more realistic for LLM students to get involved in SBA.
Finalize other Constitutional amendments meant to improve clarity and accountability.
Continue working with the Ad Hoc Committee on Externships to ensure that students’ voices are heard on the issue of paid externships.
Conduct elections for the 2024-2025 SBA Executive Board and Senate.
Hold Barrister’s Ball.
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