Interview with Pamela Gaulin
Record: Why are you running for 3L Rep?
Pamela Gaulin: I have been involved in SG the last two years, and I think there is a lot of value they can bring to the students here. I think that it’s important to have people here who are committed to bringing about change through interacting with the administration.
R: So what would you like to get accomplished during 3L?
PG: I think a key thing in the past is that people maybe are not aware of who their representatives are, or what it is that we can actually do or accomplish, so empowering students to bring their issues to us, so that we can then take action through student
government.
R: What kind of issues do you think students might potentially bring to their representatives if they know who they are?
PG: A lot of the same stuff that we’ve been dealing with in the past couple of years, which is mainly issues in the area of mental health. Issues of transparency have been big in the past. And I feel like one of the biggest things that is not brought up often enough is general student life concerns.
R: What do you think is beyond student government’s control that you would still like to change about HLS?
PG: One of the things that I would say is beyond my control right now that I would still like is – and we’ve been talking about it in meetings – is transparency with the administration, especially in terms of financial transparency. I think it’s been a huge issue for everyone, regardless of whether you have grants or whatever else, you just want to know where the money is going and where it’s coming from. So we brought up in the last meeting actually, that the business school and some of the other graduate schools have reports that the administration publishes every year on their budget and their funding and everything else, and the law school just doesn’t do that.
R: What other commitments do you have on campus?
PG: I was a vice president for the Armed Forces Association this year. I’m not going to be doing that next year, just because I will have a small baby and I’m trying to limit my commitments, so basically, it’s between SG and Law Students for Life.
Interview with Jared Lax
Record: Why are you running for 3L Rep?
Jared Lax: I got roped in at the student activities fair during 1L. What I liked about SG at HLS is that people at HLS are pursuing a thousand different things and a million different directions. What student government should do is facilitate those pursuits, and so it seems like a good central organization to help classmates and peers be able to pursue the things that they’re interested in, and I find that worthwhile.
R: What do you want to accomplish next year?
JL: Graduate. I hope that Talks will become more and more institutionalized and engrained in the fabric of both student government and the student body of HLS. As far as 3L reps go, I’m excited to figure it out next year.
R: Are there other commitments that you have on campus?
JL: I’m a senior editor for the National Security Journal, which has been a fantastic experience and it’s been a fun group to get to know. I’ve grown as a research writer and editor as a result. I’m a research assistant for Professor Tierney.
R: Do you think there should be more dogs, fewer dogs, or about the same number of dogs on campus?
JL: There should be more dogs. If the question is ever more dogs or not more dogs, in any context, then the answer is gonna be more dogs.
R: Is there anything about HLS that you would like to change that you feel is beyond your control?
JL: More transparency in grading. There have been classes where I did well that I did not anticipate doing well in, and there have been classes where I thought I did well and I didn’t do well, and I have no idea what’s the difference. I think that would help. I also think that, being here, you are obviously steered towards New York, DC, Chicago, LA, or San Francisco, and I could live in those places, but personally, I’m not trying to be in any
of those places long-term. Besides a clerkship somewhere not in one of those places, I’m a little bit on my own in terms of navigating that. And maybe there are resources, and I just haven’t gotten to see them, and I feel like we are very much sequestered in those areas, and I would like to not be.