Georgetown University: Help or Employment Manipulation

Found this article and thought I'd share:

With many graduates struggling to find jobs, the Law Center has announced that it is extending its program, giving stipends to graduates participating in internships for public interest organizations.

The program provides students with $4,000 so that they can participate in law-related volunteer programs, according to Barbara Moulton, assistant dean of the Office of Public Interest and Community Service at the Law Center. Started this summer, the program has now been extended for three more months in order to aid graduates still unable to find jobs.

The program is not advertised on the Law Center’s website, but has been announced to Law School students via an email. Currently it is only available to members of the Class of 2010 who are unemployed.

OPICS will only distribute the stipends to students whose internships with the volunteer organizations last for at least three months. The graduate must also continue to look for permanent employment in order to receive the stipend.

The program comes at a bleak time for law school graduates: While 88 percent of law school graduates of the Class of 2009 were employed by May 2010, 25 percent of the jobs reported are temporary, according to The National Association for Legal Career Professions, a higher percentage than earlier years. Another 10 percent of the jobs reported are half-time. 

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Wow. Those employment stats are dire for such a reputable law school.  I would like to think that Georgetown is giving these stipends out of the kindness of their hearts, but I know better.  I'm sure that the stats are coming due for the Class of 2010 and the numbers aren't looking good.  This stipend, a drop in the bucket, is enough of a carrot to make the little Hoyas jump at the "opportunity" and count themselves as employed.

This plan is reminiscent of Duke's little ploy.   If any Georgetown Administrators come to this site, let me be clear.... STOP ACCEPTING STUDENTS.  The only way you can ensure your employment stats improve is to limit your class size and cut your budget.  Unless you want to walk over homeless Georgetown Law Grads on M Street, quit pumping them out.

ABA: All Aboard With Transparency!

Finally, we're making headway.  The new pres of the ABA, Steve Zack, is considering a proposal wherein Law Schools would be required to provide accurate statistics to admitted students.  Since the ABA is the face of the legal industry, requiring law schools provide accurate data to students  is so long overdue.... and such a "duh" request.  Stop engaging in fraud.  Come on. The news makes me smile.  It makes me hate the ABA slightly less.  It makes me forget about Lamm.  Lamm was such a bad nightmare.
I remember her half ass attempts to reach out to solos... by doing crap like reducing membership fees.  Any amount is too much to pay for an organization that reams you like a prisoner in a group shower by shipping your bread and butter abroad.  Thanks for that, Lamm!  Now, with Zack, maybe the ABA is turning a new leaf.  However, I must dissect what he says and evaluate the effectiveness of the ABA's potential plan:

The president of the American Bar Association, Steve Zack, told a gathering of law school deans and professors last week that the organization is considering requiring law schools to disclose cost and employment statistics to all accepted law school applicants. According to this story in the National Law Journal, Zack hopes the ABA’s Young Lawyers Division will consider the proposal in February.

First, let's note that he's considering it.  About 200+ Deans are about to start a campaign to make sure this doesn't happen because of all the usual reasons: it's "burdensome, inconvenient, impossible, etc." I call "bullshit."  It's really bad for business to tell the truth about the legal industry.   So, surely the Deans will weigh in on this issue.  Let's see if this proposal survives that attack.
Secondly, for some reason, the transparency will only extend to accepted students.  Why not the general public?  Well, it's my guess that they efficacy of the information will be nil on students that feel "invested."  There is a strange phenomenon among young lemmings.  They seem to think that they are too far gone because they geared their college major towards going to law school, took Kaplan LSAT Prep Classes, and spent time and money in the application process.  The sweat and money spent on the pre-law school process is a drop in the bucket compared to the 100K+ that you will sink in law school.
So, their "logic" (ha!) is--once you've applied and been accepted--it's way to late to actually consider the stats of your prospective school and turn back.  I'm sure that Mr. Zack knows this, hence the truth is only offered to these students who wrongly consider themselves too invested to turn back.  Brilliant.  Add to that, the admitted students will be uniquely situated to keep the nasty secret as they will try their hardest not to mar the reputation of their future alma mater.
So, this is a step in the right direction, but not a big enough step.  I love how law schools, the bastion of the American Legal System, are somehow exempt from common law fraud, the consumer fraud act, and the general principle of honesty.  Their ship is sinking, but I'm wondering if they plan on telling the passengers.