The 2006 Junior/Senior
Legal Studies Lunch

May 3, 2006 -- Campus Center 1009

Alumni Speaker, Nathan Jones

2006 Shep Shepard Award Winners

Mercedes Moses and John Saunders
(See below for more information)

2004 William Field Alumni Scholarship:
Jean Michaud

Snapshot of our Major, April 2006

412 majors,
94 seniors, 150 juniors and 168 first and second year students

Seniors: 40% are double majors, 20% have a cumulative average > 3.5
Juniors, 40% are double majors, 16% have a cumulative average > 3.5

Some of the double majors our students tackle: Communications, Economics, English, History, Italian, Journalism, Management, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Spanish, STPEC, Sport Management, and Theater.

23 first and second-semester seniors are in the Commonwealth College and are working on independent research projects. Their topics include: electromagnetism as an environmental hazard which disproportionately affects people by race and class; Nature vs. Nurture: The Juvenile Death Penalty; The Attack on Affirmative Action in Higher Education; a comparison of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission with the enforcement of civil rights law and the “culture of denial” in the United States; Discriminatory practices in urban mortgage lending; Inequality in Health: Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in Massachusetts and Beyond; Media portrayal of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, then and now; Juvenile Detention Laws in the United Kingdom and A Case Study: gentrification, Hyannis, and Heroin

Shep Shepard Award Winners:

Mercedes Moses is a Legal Studies major and is also in the Commonwealth College. In addition to compiling an excellent academic record, Mercedes found time to make substantial contributions to the community. Beginning with her first year at U.Mass, she was an active member of the CCEBMS (Committee for the Collegiate Education of Black and Other Minority Students) and later became a peer mentor advising and counseling in-coming students. She worked with the Women of Color Leadership Network and helped coordinate weekly meetings. In the Summer of 2004, Mercedes interned for the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. In the Spring of 2005, she worked as an intern for the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and is continuing to serve as a litigation assistant. Her senior honors project is titled “The Attack on Affirmative Action in Higher Education: a Conservative Agenda.” After graduation, Mercedes plans to return to Boston and work in a law-related job.

John Saunders is a double major in Legal studies and Sociology and a member of the Commonwealth College. At U.Mass, John has served as a Peer Mentor in the EPOCH First-Year Experience Program, as President of AALANAI Honors Society, as House Council President of the John Adams Residence Hall, and he was appointed to the University-wide Diversity and Social Justice Committee. Off-campus, John worked as an Intern with the United States Department of Education in Washington, D.C. and with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He has also worked as an Intern with the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center in Holyoke. His senior honors project looks at discrimination in urban mortgage lending practices. After graduation, he plans to attend graduate school and study Public Policy.

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