Five students from the University’s School of Law have put together the school’s first-ever radio show. The show, titled “Full Disclosure,” airs from 6:30 to 7 p.m. Monday nights on KWVA.
Co-producer, first-year law student and former ASUO president Sam Dotters-Katz@@kenny said this is correct@@ came up with the idea for the show.
“I thought it would be a great way to interact with our classmates that was creative and fresh,” Dotters-Katz said. “I reached out to other students in the law school who were charismatic and had outgoing personalities.”
These personalities included co-hosts third-year Kira O’Connor@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Kira+S+O%27Connor+@@ and second-year Anna Friedhoff@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Anna+Friedhoff@@, technology manager and first-year D.J. Bray@@http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=535628033&sk=info@@, and co-producer and third-year law student Shehn Datta.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Shehn+Datta@@
“Full Disclosure” first hit the airwaves on Oct. 24, and after its fourth episode Monday the show is still going strong. The half-hour time slot allows the five students to talk about current legal issues and events happening in the law school. It also serves as a way for the law school to connect to the broader University and Eugene community.
“In the law school, we get kind of isolated,” Friedhoff said. “(Sam) knew all the things we could do here.”
O’Connor agreed. “I think it’s important to get the law school involved in more things on campus,” she said.
One way the show seeks to connect the law school with the rest of the University is to share the many law student organizations. As vice president of the Student Bar Association, Datta comes in contact with all 56 of the law school’s student groups. “Full Disclosure” aims to recognize accomplishments and share the knowledge and events of the different organizations, getting the word out.
“Connecting these student organizations to campus and the community is important,” Datta said.
Engaging the law student organizations also brings in an audience. And starting Jan. 23, student organizations will have the opportunity to sponsor a show.
“We give people a reason to listen because we talk about their organizations,” O’Connor said.
Each episode has repeating segments: the introduction, a loosely-legal halftime song, on-air interviews, a calendar of events and a lightning round of questions fired at co-hosts O’Connor and Friedhoff.
“It’s supposed to be kind of tongue-in-cheek and fun,” Dotters-Katz said.
Each episode also has a different theme. While Halloween saw a lighter conversation on holiday-based topics, Oct. 7’s episode focused on the possible repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.@@http://www.gayapolis.com/news/artdisplay-issues.php?artid=12175@@
Monday’s show was based around the idea of public service and giving back, at one point asking the interesting question of whether lawyers should do pro bono work themselves or pay other lawyers to do it for them. Monday also highlighted two law school student organizations that promote the legal community’s involvement in service work, the Public Interest Public Service Program@@http://www.law.uoregon.edu/pips/@@ and the Oregon Law Students Public Interest Fund.@@http://www.law.uoregon.edu/org/olspif/@@
“Everyone who comes to Oregon is interested in public service and giving back,” @@I just like sleeping@@O’Connor said of Monday’s theme. “It’s just the culture of Eugene and Oregon.”
The students will interview the new dean of the law school, Michael Moffitt, next Monday.@@http://insideoregon.uoregon.edu/uo-school-of-law-michael-moffitt-selected-dean/@@
Overall, the experience has been positive for the members of the new show and has gathered support from the law community.
“We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback,” Datta said.
Friedhoff agreed. “It’s just a fun experience and there are a lot of people who want to be involved,” she said.
The show is available live on radio and the Internet, and it is also available as a podcast for students to listen to later. The group said they view the show as a great way to engage the wider University community and to give students a study break. They don’t foresee running out of material either; there’s always something going on in the legal world and at the law school to talk about.
“We hope this is just the start and not a one-year thing,” Dotters-Katz said. “We want to pass it off to other students.”