South Texas College of Law, Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 2, August/September, 1980 Page: 4 of 12
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Page 4 — ANNOTATIONS — August-September 1980
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Getlnvolved
STCL? What's that, a disease? That's a question you
don't hear much anymore. After all, little ol' STCL just
won a national championship. We're now in the same
league as anybody you can think of, actually we're now
out of just about anybody you can think of s league.
Our Advocacy program has gone beyond the dreams
of everyone. Dean Walker has said our Advocacy
program was respectable before, always placing
somewhere but not really doing anything outstanding.
A change has occured. Whether it was Dr. T. Gerald
Treece, a better crop of students to choose from or just
dumb lude, it has been far beyond what any of the
opponents ever expected.
Who are these fast-talking wonders? Where did they
come from? Well, I hate to say it but they're just plain
STCL'er like you and me. Believe it or not all of the
advocacy members are simple law students who were
afraid of the whole system in their first year, praying to
make it through their second year and as third year
students are the ones that walk into class late with the
nonchalant look on their faces.
The point of all this is that these people are just that,
people. They got involved in advocacy for different
reasons, probably none of them honorable, and more
than likely looking for an easy credit of pass/fail to put
some more hours behind them. Whatever the reasons
they have done something for themselves and for STCL
that each and every student has the opportunity to do-
get involved with the Advocacy program. It's just been
proven that it's among the best in the nation.
Sure Dr. Treece is looking for that person who can
stand before the most cruelly inquisitive judges and
never even bat an eye, but those people, like money,
aren't found on trees. Like any other art it has to be
learned and perfected. You can be assured that the
Mode trial team that went to Montreal didn't just
happen. They've competed almost constantly since
they started at STCL.
No one will blame you for being afraid to stand up in
front of three judges and be made a fool of! No one will
deny that first semester students have anything but
spare time to spend on a program they don't even
understand! But, involvement can be more than just
competing. There are many ways to get involved, and
the greater your exposure to the -other advocates the
greater your chance to improve upon yourself and
develop into a potential champion. Take the time to
talk to Dr. Treese, if you can find him, he'll be glad to
give you some insight into what you can do now to hdp
yourself later.
For the Record
by Frank Stagg
The ten members of the SBA Board of Governors are
responsible for the administration of an estimated
$10,000 budget. While it is greater than the budgets of
some student bar associations, it is also a fraction of the
budget of others. Many activities are dependent upon
SBA patronage, and as a result financial matters weigh
heavy and often dominate SBA meetings. The SBA
constitution contains several spendthrift provisions
requiring prior board approval of major expenditures
over $20.00. The current board seems almost zealous
in preserving its perogative of fiscal approval and often
demands detalied accounting of each and every
expenditure. The cost-analysis of SBA activities
becomes at times an acrimonious affair. Two recent
expenditures have given rise to extended arguments
and heated debates concerning the budget of the
present and the prior administration. In one challenge,
several members have questioned the correctness of
allocating a large sum of money to the last Spring
Banquet Committee, which is under SBA auspices. In
another, SBA underwriting of the expenses of sending
three representatives to national meetings in San
Francisco has been put into issue.
Last year's Banquet Committee requested and
received some $1,000.00 to augment funds received
from the school and receipts of ticket sales. A recent
accounting indicates that the sum requested far
exceeded the amount necessary. No specific
itemization was apparently given at the time the funds
were released. While the present student members of
the committee were not on the committee at the time,
they refused to return the surplus of $610.00 to the
board's treasury, prefering to maintain the money in an
active account for the next banquet. Larry Hatley,
president of the SBA and several other members of the
Board of Governors felt that the excess should be
returned to the SBA purses, and that the committee
should re-submit for the board's approval any future
request for SBA support. The dispute has since
become moot with the Banquet Committee returning
the funds to the SBA treasurer.
Financial sponsorship of three representatives to the
national meetings of the ABA Law Student Division and
the National Association of Student Bar Associations
has been put into issue. While representation of STCL
has not been challenged, the need to send three
Larry Hatley, Gus
Haddad, and Tom Vick represented STCL at the San
Francisco meetings. President Hatley attended both
sets of meetings. Vice-President Haddad joined Hatley
at the ABA/LSD meetings along with Tom Vick who
sought and won the office of division delegate.
While one can take comfort in the thought that the
SBA books are well audited, the issue of fiscal
responsibility in these instances should raise another
point about an important SBA function. The SBA is
regarded as an offidal representative unit of the
student body. But we should not expect board
members to merely be our passive representatives. We
should expect the SBA to actively promote STCL and its
students. The Student Advocacy Board has made great
inroads in publicizing STCL's prominent advocacy
program. The Board of Governors should do the same
in promoting the name of STCL. The two activities
mentioned above should be viewed not only in light of
their stated purposes, but also as promotional functions
as well.
The Spring Banquet is a highlight oí the student
year, where the school honors some of its students and
faculty amidst members of the Houston and national
legal communities. It affords students to sodalize with
the very community the aspire to one day join.
The three SBA representatives—Hatley, Haddad,
and Vick—joined the eight members of the Advocacy
Board in an impressive coup in San Francisco. At the
concluding joint banquet of the student bar and
advocacy programs "STCL stood up so many times, it
got embarrassing," said one. On top of the advocacy
teams' outstanding successes, Tom Vick was elected
division Delegate of the LSD to the ABA, and Larry
Hatley was elected 13th Circuit Coordinator for
NASBA. According to Hatley, these important posts
are now occupied by STCL students in part because of
the aggressiveness of the three SBA representatives in
acquainting other delegates of their presence. By the
end of that week, the excellent professional perform-
ances of the advocacy team members and tri-parte
representation of our SBA resulted in people who
used to say, "South Texas—huh?"
That such SBA representation cost the SBA a sum in
the neighborhood of 9% of this year's operating budget
should be considered in light of the degree of public
relations it generated. It is up to the constituents of
the Board of Governors to let their representatives
know how they feel about the way their funds are spent
with regards to such activities.
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Cascone, John. South Texas College of Law, Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 2, August/September, 1980, newspaper, August 1980; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144391/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.