With the LSA elections beginning tomorrow, March 23, at 1:00 p.m., I thought it would be good to get some input from presidential candidates Randy Newsom and Sana Sheikh. Both have already shared their candidate statements with the BC Law community, but I wanted to allow them to tell us a little more about their platforms here on Eaglei. I also wanted to get their take on the dean search process, as well as on BC Law’s latest move up in the most recent U.S. News ranking of top law schools.
Both candidates are obviously pleased with BC’s rise in the U.S. News rankings to #27 from #28 last year, and seek to continue to further this progress should they be elected. Sana intends to focus on improving career placement, noting that, “BCLS has a great reputation, but in this economy, we cannot rest on reputation alone to find us jobs. BCLS needs to be more proactive, and I want to work with the administration in getting that point across.” As LSA president, she would seek to invite recent BCLS alums to come and mentor current students on how to go about finding jobs in this economy, expand the LSA Career Mentoring committee, work with Career Services to research successful career service programs to help tailor our programs to this economy, and expand the alumni database while making it easily accessible to students.
While Randy doesn’t believe the rankings accurately reflect much, he recognizes that, “like it or not, or agree with it or not, it is important for BC Law to distinguish itself in certain areas that are used in formulating the overall ranking.” To this end, he believes the LSA can contribute by “promoting our students which ultimately can have an effect on the peer ratings and overall academic reputation portions of those surveys.” As LSA President, Randy would “plan on reaching out to other law school communities and inviting more of them to our events in order to show off some of our greatest accomplishments.” In addition, he would send a personal monthly newsletter to the administration highlighting the achievements of students and faculty in order to assist the administration in its advocacy for the law school.
Both candidates are pleased with the two finalists in the dean search, Professors Osgood and Rougeau, and believe that either would be a fine choice to lead BC Law. Randy and Sana make clear that they would be excited to work with either Professor and serve as a liaison between the student body and the administration.
When asked what qualities they believe the next LSA president should possess, Randy pointed out that, “the role of LSA President at this time should be much more of being a facilitator, communicator, and advocate than anything else.” Sana noted that, “ I think a great LSA President is one that listens, and recognizes that he/she is amidst an outstanding group of people, all of whom come from different backgrounds and have different experiences.” Through their service to the BC community up to this point (as made clear in their candidate statements), Sana and Randy have shown that they possess these qualities. To learn more about them or to pose specific questions, attend the candidate forum tomorrow at 12:15 in Stuart 411. Don’t forget to vote for president and other positions beginning tomorrow at 1:00!
