On Thursday March 31 at the Loyola Corboy Law Center, the Chicago NLG co-sponsored an event discussing the over 3,500 women are incarcerated in the state of Illinois. It covered such topics as who are these women, and how they end up in prison. The panel addresses the reality of prison for women, the effects of prison on women and the consequences in their lives and their communities.
On Wednesday, March 30 at the Corboy Law Center, the Chicago NLG hosted an event that discussed nontraditional approaches to practicing law and building legal
practices through organization-building. Panelists answered their thoughts on what it means to be a people’s lawyer, how progressive attorneys help interrupt
systems of oppression through their work, and how are attorneys working to consciously build organizing power and community leadership in their practice.
The panelists had participated in programs such as the AmeriCorps VISTA Legal Fellowship and Justice Entrepreneurship Project (“JEP”) where they learned how to build crossdisciplinary relationships to the end that “human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.”
Yesterday, Palestine Legal and the NLG-Chicago sent a letter to Loyola University Chicago (LUC) demanding that LUC protect student speech and dissent by fully repealing draconian demonstration policies that the university has temporarily suspended, including a requirement that students register all demonstrations with the administration three days in advance.
In the letter, NLG and Palestine Legal raised concerns that LUC’s demonstration policy had been enforced selectively and in a discriminatory way against SJP. The letter called on LUC to extend an official apology to SJP.
The letter also demanded stronger due process protections for students facing disciplinary measures.
The NLG – Palestine Legal letter was sent after disciplinary charges were brought against three black students who had organized a racial justice demonstration in November in violation of the school’s demonstration policy. The students were also members of SJP, and Palestine Legal attended the students’ disciplinary hearing as their adviser. In December, after intense pressure, LUC dropped all charges and announced a temporary moratorium on the demonstration policy.
On Tuesday, Dec. 8, LUC announced a temporary moratorium on the Demonstration Policy, pending review of the policy by the campus community.
When students of color at Loyola University Chicago (LUC) organized a November 12 demonstration in solidarity with students at the University of Missouri, over 700 students, faculty, and staff attended. Demonstration organizers did not fully comply with LUC’s draconian demonstration policy – full compliance would have precluded participation in a national day of solidarity with Mizzou.
But despite promises from senior administration officials that no student would be disciplined, LUC charged three organizers – all black students – with violating the demonstration policy. The students faced suspension. All three students are also members of Students for Justice in Palestine at LUC (SJP), and Palestine Legal staff attorney Rahul Saksena acted as their adviser during their Friday disciplinary hearing.
On Saturday, after intense pressure from students and media, LUC’s interim president dismissed all charges and expressed a willingness to revise the demonstration policy.
Palestine Legal applauds this decision. But it exposes concerns that LUC applies its rules selectively and unfairly. Moving forward, to protect student speech and to protect students from unearned punishment, Palestine Legal joins SJP in calling on LUC to take the following steps:
DisOrientation is an event for students to discuss surviving law school with our values and commitment to social justice intact. Come meet NLG law students, legal workers, and attorneys, while attending various panels and trainings on how to become a peoples lawyer.
The NLG is dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system. We seek to unite the lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers to function as an effective force in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.
Our aim is to bring together all those who recognize the importance of safeguarding and extending the rights of workers, women, farmers, people with disabilities and people of color, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends; who seek actively to eliminate racism; who work to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them; and who look upon the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.
Schedule:
1-1:30 Lunch
1:30-2:15 Welcome
2:30-3:30 Student Panel
3:45-4:45 Attorney Panel
5-6 Legal Observer & Know Your Rights Trainings
Happy Hour to follow!
Clark Street Ale House
742 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60654
6:30 p.m.
Chicago has a shortage of 120,000 units of affordable housing and some 100,000 people sleeping in shelters or on the street each year. J.R. Fleming calls this a moral crisis rather than a housing crisis. Please come and explore the intersection of issues of homelessness, lack of affordable housing, and the mortgage foreclosure crisis in Chicago.
Loyola School of Law, 25 E Pearson(near the Chicago Red Line stop), Rm 1303 (13th floor)
Tuesday, June 25th, 5:30 – 6:45 p.m.
Refreshments will be served (though you need not RSVP to attend, if you email emlynr@gmail.com no later than noon on Monday, June 24th, we’d appreciate it)
