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Wednesday, november 1, 1972
lincoln, nebraska vol. 96, no. 34
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Female law students face various problems
by Jane Owens
Only 36 of the 484 students at UNL's Law College
are women.
At least four of these women are aware of
problems facing the female law student. Finding jobs,
gaining a client's confidence and being accepted in all
aspects of the legal field are only a few.
"Some professors. have the strange attitude that if
you don't look at them (women) they'll go away, or
at least they won't say anything," said senior Connie
Wadhams when asked about the status of women in
the Law College.
"I'm not so sure some law professors know how to
handle an integrated class," freshman Robin Waller
said. "Women seem to get called on more and have to
be prepared to respond, but I'm not complaining."
Henry Grether, dean of the Law College, said he's
heard both types of complaints.
"I don't know if you can prove them one way or
another," he said. "If any discrimination (toward
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women) does exist it's not a conscious effort. Women
are most welcome here."
Enrollment figures show that the number of
women entering the college is increasing. Of 148
seniors, four are women. Seven of the 154 juniors,
and 25 of the 182 freshmen are women.
Grether said women are becoming more interested
in law. He said he believes that the greater interest is
partially due to the feminist movement.
The college has no female faculty members,
although four of the 17 professors are married to
lawyers. No courses dealing exclusively with women
and the law are taught. According to Grether, that
subject is included in constitutional and family law
courses.
Scholastically, women are "doing about as well as
men," Grether said. Freshmen men and women had
almost identical scores on the Law School Aptitude
Test. Average undergraduate grade point for freshmen
women was 3.31; average for freshmen men was 3.10.
What are the job opportunities for women law
students?
"I have a feeling that it's more difficult for a
woman than a man to get a position in a law firm.
However, I think this is rapidly changing," Grether
said.
Jobs with Lincoln law firms are especially hard to
find, according to senior Diana Bloss. "In big cities, a
lot of firms are looking for their token woman.
Lincoln hasn't reached that point yet," she said.
Female lawyers have an advantage in finding jobs,
according to Waller, because many firms are "filling
their quota.
"I see nothing wrong with playing on 'tokenism' if
that's the only way you can get into a law firm,"
Waller said. "Once you're in, you can prove you're a
competent lawyer," she added.
Women are capable of working in all fields of law,
according to the students interviewed.
Waller said she couldn't go into divorce law
because she's too emotional. "It might partly be
because I'm female," she said.
'There are definitely fields of law that people
don't accept women in, such as trial work," Christi
Wieland, a junior, said. But she added that people in
the legal profession accept women more readily than
the general public does.
According to Wadhams, a client's willingness to
hire a female lawyer "depends on the age and
financial status of the client."
Most clients would automatically think a woman
lawyer was less competent than a man until "they
talked with you awhile," Waller said.
None of the students interviewed are strong
advocates of women's lib. "I prefer to say I support
'human liberation'-liberating everyone from their
hangups," Wadhams said.
"I'm never going to throw the Women's Lib thing
up in men's faces," Waller said. "I just want them to
treat me as me."
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Female law students at UNI "There are definitely fields of law that people don't accept
women in.
Indians'
education
funding
uncertain
The possibility that 40 UNL Indian students may not bo
able to come back to school second semester hasn't changed,
according to John Twobirds Arbuckle, Indian student advisor.
But spokesmen for the UNL Financial Aids office don't
agree.
A $17 million cut in funds to the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
(BIA), is the reason, he said.
Arbuckle said letters written to foundations and
organizations have not produced any response yet.
"We have to be optimistic, but it is bad," he said.
Private loans are not feasible because it's difficult to back
them up. Indians' parents generally don't own land, "so we're
left in a lurch," ho said.
Indian students are planning to have an auction next month
to raise some money. The auction, which will be held in front
of the Nebraska Union, will offer some Indian arts and crafts,
but the majority of items hopefully will be donated by
Lincoln merchants, according to Arbuckle.
"The auction will be organized by students. One of the
premises wc try to teach our people is 'Indian determination'
and this could be called 'student determination.' "
Arbuckle said he has no idea when students will know if
money comes through for them. He added they won't have
any alternative except dropping out if funds are not found.
Lovie Irions and Ron Fritz of the Financial Aids office
apparently see the problem differently.
"All of our students have been funded for first semester.
We don't want to jump the gun for second semester," Irions
said.
She said if money does not come through for any reason,
each case will be looked at individually. Some students have a
greater need than others, she said.
While Arbuckle said 40 Indian students need full funding,
Fritz said only four or five are in that category. He added that
many of the students who need financial aid many not have
applied.
"As far as we're concerned, there is no need to worry, but
Arbuckle may know something we don't."
Fritz also said some of the 40 students may be "no shows,"
students who apply, but never come to school.
Fritz and Irions both stressed that the department must
have applications before money can be granted to a student.
The department controls federal money that cannot be given
away with an application, he said.
When asked about the financial aids department, Arbuckle
said the department "gives me the runaround every day."
He said Indians traditionally are orally oriented, not form
oriented, "By the time you get everything on paper, it's too
late," he said.
The real problem has been the cutback of funds for the
BIA, however, because they can give complete funding in some
students' cases, he said.
"By treaty we've been guaranteed health, education and
welfare monies. The government is not honoring their
goddamn treaty."
ASUN supplies notaries
for absentee balloting
ASUN is providing. people to notarize absentee ballots in
the downstairs conference room of the Nebraska Union
through the rest of this week, according to ASUN President
Bruce Beecher.
Beecher said the notarization is free.
Students voting by absentee ballot should bring their
unmarked ballots to the Union between 9 a.m. and 5 n m.
Beecher said there will be places for students to vole af tc-r the
ballots have wen notarized.
