The reasons for our difficult decision can be summed up as follows. We have serious concerns about the allocation of resources at the clinic and how this allocation has affected: (i) the services the clinic is able to provide to its clients and (ii) the quality of the clinical legal education that the students receive.
These concerns have been repeatedly brought to the attention of the Executive, for example at the annual planning meetings held in July 2005 and July 2006, with a view to discussing various options to resolve what we feel are serious structural flaws at the clinic. These concerns have also been directly brought to the attention of Judith McCormack. Neither the Executive, nor the Executive Director, have done anything to facilitate an open discussion of our concerns. After more than one year of trying to secure an open and frank dialogue of how scarce public resources are allocated within the clinic, including attempts to meet collectively with the Executive Director and the Dean, who is the head of the clinic, we have decided that we can longer abide the current situation.
Given these concerns, it is not clear whether any further action by students will be any more successful than the efforts of the review lawyers to have these matters addressed. It is interesting to note that the lawyers specifically cite the inability or unwillingness of the Executive and the Director to confront these problems, verifying the reports we have heard regarding strife between the administration and the lawyers. It is perhaps telling that the lawyers only make reference to their work with the students in expressing their regret over the situation. Given that the problems referred to by Mary and Richard seem to be institutional in character, it is perhaps only a matter of time before the other review lawyers find themselves at a similar crossroads. Attention should now be focused on what can be done to address the above issues so that DLS doesn't lose any more of its excellent review counsel. That being said, any action at this point may be too little too late for Mary and Richard...
Finally, an update on the secret meeting: A rumour has come to our attention that a DLS Shadow Cabinet will be held made up of DLS shift leaders, credit students, and upper years in an appropriately conspiratorial manner in xxxxxxxxxx at xxx. ;)
-Borstal Boy
7 comments:
You really ought not to broadcast when secret meetings are to be held. How can they remain secret?
Fair enough...I edited the post.
I wouldn't want to be the one to ruin a good ol' fashioned Secret Shadow Cabinet meeting...
thanks. Do you think people were actually taking the secret meeting seriously?
Certainly I took the idea of a pseudo-formal shadow cabinet meeting to be more fun than fact.
That being said, it is no surprise that some senior DLSers will probably want to get together to talk about stuff...albeit in an informal way.
There will likely be a formal open general meeting soon enough that all students can attend.
I think you will find that there is a letter being circulated asking that a general meeting be held as per the Constitution of DLS. It requires the signitures of thirty members, members being a student who has been at the clinic for a full year or a credit student. I do not know how many students have signed on. I do think however that for a resignation to be an effective signal that something is seriously wrong it has to be followed through with. I think the Golden Age of DLS has come to an end, though its end was in sight for the better part of this year. I blame the Executive for not actually running the clinic.
Hm. I honestly couldn't say who is to blame, but it is clear from the above that the lawyers lay some of the responsibility at the feet of the Exec.
Does anyone else think that the so-called Golden Age of DLS is past? Or is this just an inevitable aspect of legal aid clinics? In addition to DLS and Osgoode, several other clinics have had significant personnel changes recently including CSSP, Kensington-Bellwoods, and Flemingdon...and thats not even mentioning the probelms at SALC.
AMINA QUIT!
Post a Comment