No one comes to college planning on getting into trouble. However, sometime during their four years at Penn State, many students find themselves in an unfortunate legal situation.
University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) President Gavin Keirans is trying to ensure Penn State students have access to free legal services, but he seems to be meeting opposition at every turn.
The prospect of legal services suffered a major roadblock Friday when the Student Activity Fee Board voted to maintain a regulation in the Student Activity Fee Handbook that restricts the "hiring of legal services" from being funded by the Student Activity Fee. Though Student Affairs previously funded a program similar to Legal Services that was cut, the board elected to keep the restriction in place by a vote of 7-4.
Penn State does not currently offer a free legal services program for students -- long a mainstay of most other Big Ten schools -- and hasn't for over two years. A two-thirds majority vote is needed to remove the restriction, and it's elimination needs to be a priority. Legal battles are not only expensive for students, but may have lasting detrimental repercussions.
Keirans' determination in this matter is admirable. He campaigned on the issue and is now determined to see it through to completion, following through on the campaign promise he made to Penn State students. It is now the board's job to stop refusing to fund the program, something that may require compromise.
Keirans may need to look to other sources to subsidize the legal services. One solution may be to rearrange money already in the budget. Although Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG) Student Affairs Director Nicholas Borsuk hinted that programs may have to be cut if the legal services program is funded, UPUA was allocated thousands of dollars at the beginning of the academic year from the Fee Board. Surely some money is still left in the budget to fund the Legal Services program.
If the undergraduate monetary resources have been depleted, perhaps the law school could be coaxed into contributing more. With the recent opening of the new Dickinson School of Law building at University Park, an influx of law students has settled in State College. At most law schools, law students are required to devote a certain number of hours to clinical programs, helping residents of the community combat the types of general civil problems faced by most of the Penn State students who seek legal advice. This type of work has double benefits -- it gives second- and third-year law students practical experience while helping those who can't afford legal representation. Keirans announced in August that he planned to work with the law school to institute this type of program, but it appears that the school is not offering enough money to keep the project afloat.
Keirans should keep fighting to institute this program. It's important for all Penn State students to have access to legal services, even if they think they will never need it.
