-: There are a couple things.
First of all, I think probably the most important thing,
and certainly what I did when I was at SUNY Oswego...
I got involved in grassroots organizations
addressing civil and human rights issues.
I think that any responsible civil rights lawyer
or responsible civil rights advocate has to have
a grounding in the movements in the community
and a grounding in the movements that are run
by people who are directly impacted
by the problems that they want to solve.
And talk to people who are directly impacted,
that's the most important thing.
In terms of what to do on campus,
I was heavily involved in campus organizations.
I worked with an organization called
the New York Public Interest Research Group,
which lobbied on behalf of SUNY students on a
wide range of issues from tuition assistance programs
to, you know, not raising tuition, et cetera.
So I spent a lot of time in Albany doing some of that work.
I was also involved in the student government
which is a great way to sort of hone your ability
to speak and write and advocate for people.
I was student body vice president,
so it's always helpful to be involved at that level.
Working with student organizations,
working with student budgets,
and sort of getting your hands in multiple
pots of management of organizations
and understanding how to advocate.
Really what lawyers are, and what civil rights lawyers are,
we're professional advocates for a cause.
We're professional writers and speakers,
and I think that those experiences on campus set you up
to have an effective background for those type of skills.
I think you need to go out into the community.
I think you need to go out into the community
and you need to attend rallies,
you need to attend events run by community organizations,
and you need to talk to people.
Because not only will that help you to meet the kind of
people that can set your career in motion,
but it will help you to really understand the issue,
cause you just can't understand the issue
without attending those type of events
and understanding at the ground level what this
sociopolitical issue is and how we solve it.
So that's what I would say is the most important thing.
Get out there, not to network really,
but to be intellectually curious and to understand
and you will find the type of people
that you need to find to set yourself in motion.