SR0298 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0298 LRB101 11978 JWD 59174 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate support the students of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, John Marshall Law School, Northern Illinois University College of Law, University of Chicago Law School, Southern Illinois University School of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, DePaul University College of Law, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and University of Illinois College of Law and their pledge to improve the well-being and mental health of their campuses and to better address mental health issues among lawyers, starting with law students; and

WHEREAS, Improving wellness and advancing legal education are synchronized interests; addressing these issues within the State's communities will result in happier and healthier individuals and better students and contributing members of the legal profession; and

WHEREAS, The legal profession has a lengthy history of substance abuse and often penalizes individuals seeking help; poor student or practitioner health is not a necessary byproduct of a rigorous legal education and needs to be treated as the scourge of the profession that it is; students left behind are not due to a failure of personal strength but are testaments to the collective failure to uplift one another and raise the standards of the legal trade; and

WHEREAS, Law school student bar associations are joining efforts to facilitate well-being and recognize mental health issues, to listen to the concerns of the students and be responsive to their well-being and mental health struggles, and to build a school atmosphere where well-being and mental health is recognized as an immediate issue which deserves attention and resolution; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize the need to end the stigma surrounding mental health, stand in support of the efforts by the law schools of our State to provide better access to care, and urge them to continue in their efforts to address this issue; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the student bar association presidents: Richard C. Minott, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law; Hannah G. Johnson, John Marshall Law School; Victor Zamora, Northern Illinois University College of Law; Mihai F. Chitulescu, University of Chicago Law School; Jacob Welch, Southern Illinois University School of Law; Dawn Peacock, Chicago-Kent College of Law; Ashlee Germany, DePaul University College of Law; Brian P. Gibbons, Loyola University Chicago School of Law; and Ashley G. Kennedy, University of Illinois College of Law as an expression of our esteem and respect.