Penn State Dickinson School of Law

Minutes

Call meeting to order:
1. President calls meeting to order.
Attendance:
1. Present:
  Jeffry Johnson — P
  Justina Uram — VP
  Tara Walsh — Secretary and Treasurer
  Jennifer Winston
  Jose Fanjul — P SBA
  Mai Nguyen arrived late at 7:48.
  Joy Han (UP)
  Tabitha Chedekel
  Terrence Burke (UP) arrived late at 7:47 due to class.
2. Absent:
  Crystal West (Washington)
  Bianca Oden (Washington)
  Matthew Muckler — (per pro. chairman)
  Taisha Chambers
3. Quorum established
Welcome by President:
1. President introduces guests.
Consideration of Speakers Proposals
1. Presentation by Amnesty International
  Patrick Nyero and Katrina's Proposal
  Wednesday, March 26, 6:30 p.m.
  1. The Ambassador of Rwanda will becoming to speak about the Rwandan genocide.
  2. The group also wants to bring in survivors of the genocide; this is still in the works and is somewhat difficult because not all of these individuals feel comfortable talking about this subject.
  3. Prior events of this nature have been very successful; for instance, we have had a speech on the Bosnian genocide.
  4. This particular genocide was of catastrophic proportions, and it is being repeated elsewhere.
  5. The figure we have at this point, $635, does not include honorarium etc; this is in the very preliminary stages.
  6. Jose suggests involving an international law professor up at UP to support this event; this may draw more attention to the event.
2. Presentation by Phi Alpha Delta
  Tabitha Chedekel's and Matthew Noumoff's Proposal
  1. Judges' Night
  2. Judges' will talk about their backgrounds, how they decided to take this role, and what they do; i.e. law is more than litigating
  3. Matthew will be sending the Judges invitations to the event when a place is confirmed
  4. Judges are likely to establish connections with law students; clerkships could result from this event.
  5. 3 potential dates: March 20; April 3; April 10
  6. Possible locations: Army War College, Comfort Suites, HUD (at Dickinson College), American Legion
  7. Buses would be needed for the War College, and based on the past it would cost roughly $300.
  8. Right now approximately 15 judges and 75 students and administrators are estimated to come.
  9. Ticket price — $5 per person
  10. Great opportunity especially for 1Ls
  11. Food — $21 per person; Alcohol estimate based off of last year; Gifts for judges will be a picture frame ($20 per gift); $160 of miscellaneous costs (center pieces, table cloths, clean up etc); Total request — $3,100
  12. The reason the estimates of people are larger this year is because the administration is really stepping in and promoting the event.
  13. There is a concern about the fact that there was too much alcohol last year; PAD didn't take into account how cheap the alcohol was at the Army War College.
  14. Also a concern that there is not a Judges' Night up at UP.
  15. Jose cautions that UP will have to find judges near UP; the judges here in Carlisle will not go to UP, they don't like Penn State.
  16. Tabitha notes that if there is enough interest, buses will run from UP to Carlisle.
  17. E-mail notice will be sent out to students at both Carlisle and UP so UP students who are interested in the event will be notified
  18. Tabitha will talk to Career Services about getting out of state judges involved in this event.
Voting on Grant Applications
1. Amnesty International Proposal
  1. This event would be a huge plus for the school; the Ambassador has great political clout.
  2. This is a very unique opportunity for us and mixing in the school of international affairs would work really well.
  3. This is a topic that we could adopt potentially as the Speakers Trust signature event.
  4. Travel cost is probably a little low.
  5. Unanimous vote to adopt this proposal, but we will wait to hear further details.
  6. Side Note: We have a lot of money left in the budget. Potential speakers include:
    1. Victor Schwartz — tort reform/products liability, based out of D.C.; wrote the leading authority for tort text books
    2. Books to Prisoners will be having a rather expensive speaker in the near future.
    3. Mai says that she has spoken to people and proposals will be coming.
2. Phi Alpha Delta Proposal
  1. American Legion should be cut out; this venue is not nice enough for judges.
  2. Comfort Suites is very expensive, but the SBA could pick up extra cost.
  3. Last year it was at the War College; this worked well but it was more expensive with bussing.
  4. Jose noted that this event must go on to get Dickinson alumni interested again in the school.
  5. Concerning the alcohol issue, we should put a caveat on the proposal saying we will give you an over-estimate for the alcohol but we want the remainder of the money back if not spent; this is so the judges don't have to pull money out their pockets.
  6. $300 was allocated for alcohol for this event last year.
  7. We will revert to the presenters and ask them to get back to us when they pick a location and nail down more details.
  8. Unanimous vote in favor of the event in general, pending further details to be determined.
  9. Cap will be the $3,000 tentatively (Take out miscellaneous allocation; we usually look for more itemized plans)
  10. New proposal should be in by the next meeting.
Ratify the ST bylaws for 2007-08 term
1. Concerning the charity clause, the purpose of this is to keep the school in the clear for tax purposes etc. Therefore, the check must be made out to the speaker and then they can do what they want with it.
2. Unanimous approval of bylaws and amendments.
Closing Comments
1. Next meeting will be Wednesday, February 27 at 7:30 hopefully in the same room.
2. Everyone should start sharing ideas for Speakers Trust speakers.
Meeting Adjourned

Speakers Trust Meeting — Thursday, January 30, 2008