Monday, March 9, 1998
Community Briefs
BRIEFS:
Symposium addresses sexual orientation law
The UCLA Women’s Law Journal held a symposium about "Queer
Matters and Emerging Issues in Sexual Orientation Law" on
Saturday.
"We wanted to reach out to the community with a broad topic,"
said Sandra Bernal, co-editor in chief of the Women’s Law Journal
and third-year law student. "Most symposiums are aimed at topics
for professors and law school students."
Professors, lawyers, law students and undergraduates attended
the symposium to hear contemporary issues about gay and lesbian
rights.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case on same-sex
harassment in the workplace, Oncale vs. Sundowner Offshore Service,
Inc. It decided that same-sex harassment is illegal.
"We picked (this topic) because it is a timely issue and also
something not explored at this law school at this level," she
said.
The Women’s Law Journal holds a symposium every two years.
Michelle Ahnn, Kemmofer Dirlom and Lara Herrington also helped
organize the event.
The symposium covered a variety of topics such as sexual
orientation bias in employment, lesbian legal theory, as well as
same-sex marriage rights, among others.
William Ruberstein, a professor at the UCLA law school, opened
the symposium with comments on the symposium and stories about his
experiences as a queer law school student. "What we do here is
rebellious and unruly," he said, tongue-in-cheek.
He also talked about the relationship between sexual orientation
and gender. He joined the Women’s Law Journal during his time in
law school.
"In 1983 I learned about feminine jurisprudence and gay law," he
said. "These information you could only get from the Women’s Law
Journal."
The first panel included Sheila Kuehl, Speaker Pro Tempore of
the California State Assembly. She was the first openly homosexual
to be elected to the Assembly.
"The development of these theories and the publication of them
is important," she said, also talking about the legislation she has
supported to prohibit discrimination against gay and lesbian
communities.
"If the law is on your side, pound the law. If the facts are on
your side, pound the facts. If nothing is on your side, pound the
table."
House committee
discusses loan rates
A House subcommittee confronted the major obstacle in its path
to renewing the nation’s higher education law that provides most of
the federal student aid on Thursday, when congressmen tackled the
sticky issue of student loan interest rates.
Rep. Bill Goodling, R-Pa., chairman of the full House Committee
on Education and the Workforce, said time was running out to find a
middle ground between interest rates low enough to appeal to
financially strapped students but high enough for banks to want to
provide student loans.
The Higher Education Act must be reauthorized by July 1 or it
will expire, but Goodling said he wanted the interest rate problem
resolved in the next two weeks. The committee can’t vote on the
entire reauthorization of the law without that roadblock cleared,
and committee members hopes to move the legislation to the House
floor before the spring recess in April.
"This means everything for the people at home," Goodling said.
"If we don’t find a compromise and the lenders walk out, this could
mean disaster."
The Higher Education Act provides for most federal student aid
programs, such as work-study, Stafford loans and Pell Grants.
Congress worked for two years to overhaul the act before
reauthorizing it in July 1992. Many of the programs that help
students pay for postsecondary education expire this year, and the
new interest rate index is scheduled to take effect on July 1.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff and wire reports.