Student Leader Participates on Rainbow/PUSH
Coalition Panel
Thurgood Marshall School of
Law 3L student, Michael Sterling who serves as the chair
of the National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA), was a panelist
at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition's 35th annual conference held
June 10-15, 2006, at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare Hotel in the Chicago suburb
of Rosemont. Aptly titled, "A More Perfect Union:
Free, But Not Equal," the conference featured the Rev. Jesse
Jackson, founder and president of Rainbow PUSH Coalition; Charles Ogletree,
professor of law at Harvard Law School; Willie Gary, prominent personal
injury attorney; and Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans.
Sterling
addressed the topic, Today's Civil
Rights Agenda and Priorities: Changing
the Course of our Nation, in which he spoke about the decreasing
number of African-Americans in law school and how NBLSA is addressing
this issue via recruitment and retention efforts.
According to Sterling,
this fall's entering law school class will have the lowest number of
African American students in 16 years.
In an effort to improve the matriculation of African Americans
in law school, NBLSA has targeted 10 undergraduate institutions during
the fall semester and 10 institutions during the spring semester to
prepare students for applying to law schools. The
preparation will include assisting students with writing personal statements,
as well as reviewing LSAT strategies.
In discussing the need for African American attorneys
in both public and private practice, Sterling
noted the importance of having minority attorneys in all facets of the
legal profession, fighting for Civil Rights and public interest. As
an incentive, NBLSA will offer stipends and scholarships to students
interested in performing pro bono work.
On the final day of the conference, the Rev. Jesse
Jackson announced that Rainbow PUSH will lead a "massive"
march in Springfield, Illinois,
to press for fair education spending in urban, suburban and rural districts
statewide, with a pledge of support from Chicago
Public School's CEO Arne Duncan. The goal is to generate $1,000 more per
child to fund education. Jackson stated, "we
want equal access and high public education for all of our children
¨C make the playing field even for all of our children."
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NBLSA is the largest student-run organization in America, and represents
over 6,000 Black law students at over 200 law schools across the country.
Recently, the NBLSA established international links with black
law students in Canada, England,
and South Africa
who modeled their student organization after NBLSA.
The Rainbow PUSH Coalition is a progressive
organization, which seeks to protect, defend and gain civil rights,
level the economic and educational playing fields in all aspects of
American life and bring peace to the world.
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