The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 29, 1994 - 7 LAW SCHOOL Continued from page 1 and rigors of law school but he hopes his work will pay high dividends. "I'm hoping my efforts in law school will pay off, and I will find a very good paying job." A typical law school student stud- ies 35 to 40 hours a week, Shields estimated. "Law school is not an easy thing to go through. It is very com- petitive and very stressful." Third-year Law school student Elliot Uchitelle said, "The work load is very heavy the first year, then slows down somewhat the second and third years." But Uchitelle is quick to add that Law school is a "good experience." In addition to LSAT scores and grades, including courses taken, Shields said the University's Law school places much emphasis on let- ters of recommendation, especially from professors and applicant essays. The REA reports that approxi- mately 40 percent of Law school stu- dents are in-state. Shields said, contrary to popular belief, "The U-M Law school does not have a bias against U-M under- graduates who apply to the law school." In fact, the Law school ranks first among law schools that enroll their undergraduates. Sixty-nine of the 360 students in this year's entering class earned their undergraduate degrees from the Uni- versity. Duke University Law school, which ranked second, enrolled only 13 of their undergraduates. The Michigan Bar Association estimates there are approximately 950,000 lawyers in the United States -29,000 are in Michigan. Even with the market flooded with lawyers, Shields said, "Most U-M law school graduates do not have a hard time find- ing employment after graduating." Shields added that a number of students attending law school do not have the ultimate ambition to practice law. "Law school provides students with a solid background, which opens other avenues for students to pursue." Uchitelle said he feels the high number of lawyers in the job market is "discouraging," yet he believes having a legal background provides students with "more flexibility." Kim Lerner, an LSA senior, is not discouraged by the number of law- yers in the market, but feels the field is "male dominated." "I feel there will always be a need for lawyers to de- fend the rights of the victim and en- sure the system is working for the people," Lerner said. "There is a place for everyone who cares about the pro- fession, especially dedicated women." Shields encourages those students considering law school in the future to "take a rigorous undergraduate curriculum and do as best they can." Uchitelle recommends under- graduates take some time off before entering law school. "Taking a year or two off before going to law school allow students to gain a better per- spective of life. It made my classes more meaningful," Uchitelle said. JONATHAN BERNDT/Daily 0 - P1 $ A E HER JONATHAN BERNDT/Daily TLSA course lets y students wrestle with dicey issues By TALI KRAVITZ For the Daily Is it politically correct to call a gay person a "fag?" If you refer to your best friend as a "jap," could she be offended? These are the kind of questions the Program on Intergroup Relations and Conflict (IGRC) deals with every day. Students in the IGRC course "Building Bridges through Intergroup Dialogues" are given the opportunity to wrestle with these issues in a non-threatening environment. IGRC promotes communication in an open and re- *axed way. Students voice their feelings to one another about issues that concern them and their racial or ethnic group. Prof. Ximena Ziliga, who has worked with and pro- grammed the IGRC since its inception, said, "Conflict is a natural thing; it builds community." She added, "The students coming out of the dialogues are empowered to action and are able to explain the conflicts between groups with more complexity." Furthermore, by participating in an intergroup dia- logue, students can learn to shatter some stereotypes and *misconceptions they might have of another group. There are seven facilitators and two peer coordinators to assist the groups in dialogue. After going through an intense training period, these facilitators are ready to guide students in a productive dialogue. This setup pro- vides an unintimidating atmosphere for students to speak. There are approximately 12 to 14 people in each dialogue. Al Spuler, a graduate student and a facilitator of the program, said, "Sincethe University isputting so much effort into bringing minority students to campus, IGRC is attempt- ing to deal with the these diverse groups constructively." LSA senior Cindy LaSovage is a peer consultant for the program. "Being white and coming from an all-Black com- munity in Detroit posed many social problems for me when I started college. I always needed to prove to people that just because I am white does not mean I am a racist," she said. "The IGRC has given me a chance to learn about other groups and, at the same time, for them to learn about me. Now I am able to challenge others as a facilitator." This winter semester, the one-credit course is offered Salaries for Facukty and Staff at al 3 U of M campuses included. Stop by and pick up your copy at Student Publications Building 420 Maynard, 2nd floor =$0.00 for supplement ojr ~~ $5.00 w/ studentID j: Cindy Lasovage and Abe Bates facilitate a dialogue in the Wedge Room of West Quad. from February to March and will meet once a week for two hours. Aside from participating in the dialogue, students are expected to read relevant materials, write reflection papers, as well as culminate the experience with a final paper incorporating their thoughts and insights. The program began in 1988 as part of the Pilot Pro- gram. Although still located in Alice Lloyd residence hall, the IGRC is presently part of the mainstream LSA course listing, while working in conjunction with the sociology, psychology and american culture departments. It serves approximately 400 students per year. "A common discussion area," according to facilitator Neera Parikh - an Indian American concentrating in sociology and communication -"is for the each group in the dialogue to claim that he/she has been more oppressed than the other." Sarikh reacts with the fact that it is impossible to rank certain types of oppression as worse than another. Aside from the academic courses that are offered, the IGRC also has programs in the residence halls, within the Greek system and during Martin Luther King Jr. Day. People from all over the Ann Arbor area are encouraged to participate. Other dialogues offered for winter term are lesbian, gay, bisexual/heterosexual dialogue, Black/Jewish dia- logue, white people/people of color dialogue and female/ male dialogue. Alison Forn6s is another peer consultant for the groups. With her Puerto Rican and Chinese ethnic background, Forn6s said being a participant in the dialogues and then becoming a facilitator and coordinator have been "the best experiences of (her) college career." i HANUKKAH Continued from page 3 Jewish families also celebrate the holiday by playing dreidal, a gam- bling game involving a top, and by eating latkes - fried potato pancakes. The dreidal is marked with four Hebrew letters that stand for the phrase, Nes Gadol Haya Sham or "A great miracle happened here." Dreidals were used to secretly pass on the story of the miracle because Syrian-Greek King Antiochus forbade formal Jewish learning. "The dreidals were used in the times of the Greeks. This was a way of deceiving the enemy and making them think its not learning," Goldstein said. Despite the many traditions sur- rounding Hanukkah, many Jews do not consider it a major holiday. Un- like other holidays, Hanukkah takes place during the week, and observant Jews may continue to go to work. "It is as about as unimportant as Jewish holidays get on the scale of Jewish holidays," Brooks said. LSA junior Laurie Stein said Ha- nukkah has received more attention because it is near Christmas. "I don't think it's a very religious holiday," she said. Still, Stein is celebrating the holi- day with her housemates. "We are lighting a menorah and having pre- sents." Goldstein said the holiday is im- portant to Jews. "It's still observed with the same dedication as you would any other holiday." WRITE FOR THE DAILY. IT'S NEVER TOO LATE. COME BY 420 MAYNARD. ............. J W. U, --