.jpg)
The Forum | About
A Historical Glance from the First Edition of Forum: December 16, 1975
The first edition of the Vermont Law School Forum is in your hands. As its mast head clearly states, it is a forum for the entire community of VLS. It is the hope of the editors that anyone, whether student, faculty, administration, or dean, who wishes to avail him or herself of its pages, for whatever legitimate purpose, will feel encouraged to do so. The school community has been fragmented for two and one-third years. The SBA, the official governmental body, has yet to be understood and fully accepted by its constituency. Some students may not be aware of the government's efforts to date. It needs a communication outlet.
Disparate groups of students have organized to confront various segments of the law school to obtain information regarding policy formulation. They need an arena to air their views before the public.
The Women's Caucus, the National Lawyers Guild, and other fledgling organizations within the school community are developing alternatives to the traditional values and approaches taken by the "establishment" legal community. They should have an outlet whereby essential feedback of ideas are transmitted.
We have a faculty and administration who, for the most part, have remained silent with regard to policy, future progress, and personal views and ideas as they relate to the school. We encourage them to participate in the Forum.
The newspaper is funded through money appropriated by the SBA. However, it is our intention to remain independent from any one group. We hope to inform students as to the opportunities and activities available to them. We hope to provide a focal point where anything of interest can be made available to all for consideration, analysis and criticism. The Forum will take stands and give opinions. We understand and welcome the controversy which may arise.
Our procedure for submitting articles to the paper is simple. The article should be typed and may be submitted directly to our office in the Student Center, in our mail boxes, or personally. We request that the article be signed by its author. Individual letters should follow the same procedure. However, an author's name will be withheld upon request. In this event we promise to preserve your privacy. We will not publish letters that we have received unsigned, which are clearly libelous, or which contain falsifications or misrepresentations. We reserve the right to edit anything submitted, but only edit, not censor. If we feel it necessary to edit, the final version will be made available to you before publication.
We will be especially grateful to anyone who wishes to submit a substantial article on some topic. We ask only that you clear this topic with us beforehand in order to avoid duplication, and support any allegations made. The editorial staff will have final decision on what is printed, but unless the article lacks necessary substantiation, or we simply have no space, it will be printed. We will be glad to explain our reasons for not including your work, if the occasion arises.
Finally, we hope to adequately reflect the Vermont Law School community. We can do this with a viable forum. So, by all means, contribute to our endeavor. Don't be afraid to criticize and be criticized.
Have a safe and happy Christmas vacation. - The Editorial Staff
SHARE