Students Delay Legal Careers
Amid job crunch, fewer recent alumni pursue law after graduation
By JUSTIN ROULLIER Sun Staff Writer
The number of Cornell undergraduates enrolling in law school immediately after graduation has decreased 44 percent over the last five years, according to data released by the University’s Career Services Office.
In 2007, 5.9 percent of the University’s graduating class went to law school in the fall after graduation, while only 3.3 percent of the Class of 2011 attended law school the subsequent year, according to Jane Levy, senior associate director of Cornell Career Services.
“Some
cent of the students that the Cornell Law School admits have three or more years of work experience. That seems to be true at many others schools.”
One student who felt pressure to defer law school was Emily Cusick ’12, an ILR student and the president of Kappa Alpha Pi, a pre-law fraternity at Cornell.
of the pre-law students in my fraternitiy have just decided to do banking for the next couple of years.”
Emily Cusick ’12
Within the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, the decline has been even steeper, according to Harry Katz, dean of ILR. Twenty-six percent of the ILR Class of 2007 enrolled in law school for the academic year following graduation, compared to only 12 percent of the class of 2011 –– an almost 54-percent decrease.
Katz noted, however, that only students who enroll in law school for the semester after they graduate are included in the data.
“Law schools increasingly encourage students to work before they go on to law school,” Katz said. “The dean of the law school, Stewart Schwab, tells me that 50 per-
“Some of the pre-law students in my fraternity have just decided to do banking for the next couple years,” Cusick said. “They get these lucrative banking offers, and they just can’t say no. A year off would probably deter me from law. There would be no impetus to go to law school, so I’m going to law school next year just to make sure that at the end of the day I become a lawyer.”
Katz cited the economic downturn as another factor causing the trend.
“The cost of law school has gone up and the number of job opportunities has gone down,” he said. “People may be discouraged to hear of the more limited hiring going on in major law firms after the 2008 financial crisis.”
According to Richard Geiger, associate
See LAW page 5
Cornell’s Famed Hot Trucks Fight New Municipal Fee
By DAVID FISCHER Sun Staff Writer
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, the owners of Cornell’s historic food trucks may be discovering soon.
The owners of Louie’s Lunch and the Hot Truck appealed an annual $2,153 fee assessed for the first time last summer, by the Board of Public Works.
On Feb. 27, the board will decide
whether or not the truck owners will have to pay the fee, proposed by the board in response to a state audit that indicated the two trucks were selling on city streets without properly paying the city.
Albert Smith, the owner of the Hot Truck, and Ronald Beck, the owner of Louie’s Lunch, have both filed appeals
See HOT TRUCKS page 4
Despite Snow, Chili Cook-OffHeats Up Downtown
By TAJWAR MAZHAR
Sun Staff Writer
Offering more than 55 varieties of mouthwatering chili prepared by local eateries, Saturday’s annual Great Chili Cook-Off was the event’s largest “Chili Fest” yet. The day’s weather fluctuated between snow, rain and shine, but
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did not discourage the community’s enthusiasm for the chili, cheese and cornbread provided by businesses such as D.P. Dough, Stella’s Restaurant and Viva Taqueria, among many others.
“That’s Ithaca for you!” Patty Clark, event manager for the Downtown Ithaca Alliance, exclaimed at one point, as the pour-
ing rain abruptly gave way to sunshine.
“We got all kinds of weather this year ... but I guess it didn’t work against us the whole time,” Clark said.
The 14th Chili Fest drew more than 5,000 visitors over the course of the day, according to Clark, who said that an increase in vendors this
year prevented lines for chili from becoming unbearable.
“The chili lines were a lot shorter this year,” Clark said. “Because we had so many entries, there were different places to spread people out.”
GreenStar Cooperative Market, a Chili Fest fixture, gave out 15 gallons, or 1,300 cups, of chili on Saturday, according to Debbie Lazinsky, who works in the grocery store’s marketing department. Lazinsky emphasized the importance of Chili Fest for the business’ visibility.
“We saw a lot of people that I don’t feel are regular customers, so it is great exposure for us,” Lazinsky said.
GreenStar won third place in the vegetarian category for its chili, which is made with local black beans.
“GreenStar is all about good, healthy food,” Lazinsky said. “Any chance we have to go into the community and serve healthy, homemade food is great for us.”
Collegetown Bagels took the prize for best vegetarian chili, while best meat chili went to Razorback BBQ and Red Jacket Orchard walked away with first, second and third place in the category for best local beverage.
Jeff McCall, from the New Roots Charter School, cooked in Chili Fest for the first time this year after moving from Texas. He said that he
Chili for the chilly | Cornell students serve chili during Ithaca’s 14th annual Great Chili Cook-Off on Saturday. The event drew more than 5,000 attendees over the