Student Orgs

So the SBA hosted a student organization fair yesterday and it was open from 5-6pm so that the evening students could attend. After finishing my briefing for CivPro in the library, I stopped by to see what all the excitement was about. They had food! Cookies, candy, chips, etc. All the types of things evening students need to make through almost 3 hours of class. They also had signup sheets for the dozen or so groups who were represented, such as:

- The minority self-identification law student association, such as the BLSA, AALSA, HLSA, and JLSA. Missing was the Good 'ole Boy LSA, which I think would be really appropriate since this is Texas and all.
- The "pick your favorite legal specialty" law student org. Specialties covered include IP, Int'l, Environmental, Health, Public Interest, and Corporate. Missing was the Organized Crime Family/Mafia LSA.
- The legal fraternities, like Phi Alpha Delta and whatever the other one was that was there. I'm not sure I get these, but whatever.
- The "my undergrad was better than yours" LSA, like the Aggie and Longhorn LSAs. Again, it's a Texas thing, but seriously, get over it. Oddly enough, no other Texas schools were represented.
- The Federalist Society - represented by the only person in a suit, but I think that was because he had an interview, not because he was trying to impress us.
- Others included the Christian Legal Society, the LeGaLS (Lesbian and Gay LSA), and my favorite, the Hunting and Gun Club, represented by the only person who was actually enthusiastic about recruiting people into his group. Given that there was a gun club, I wonder where the rodeo club was?

Personally, I found the whole thing underwhelming. I mean, I appreciate these groups making representatives available to us, but there was a general lack of enthusiasm in getting us signed up. Maybe it was just me and maybe I expected something different, but I only put my name on one list that I hadn't intended on going in and I got no vibes from one I did put my name on. Had I not really been interested, I would have passed it by. Also, most of these groups meet during lunch time which is only convenient if you work near campus, which I don't. Sure, I can come to campus a couple times a semester for something if I need to, but not for regular group meetings, especially for multiple groups. Unless some of these groups change their meeting times they won't have any luck in recruiting many evening program students into their groups.

This leads me to ask the obvious question, where's the evening law student association? Since we're the first class maybe it's kinda early to start this group, but as new classes come on next year and thereafter, there might be a place for such a group. What would we do in order to stand out? I don't know, but if we did nothing other than start a baby-sitting pool and a law student widows group we'd probably be effective. That said, there are some older day students starting a new group that has some promise, but I'm not sure their interests and concerns match up enough for their group to be beneficial. I guess we'll just have to wait, watch, and see.