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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate support the
3students of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, John Marshall
4Law School, Northern Illinois University College of Law,
5University of Chicago Law School, Southern Illinois University
6School of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, DePaul University
7College of Law, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and
8University of Illinois College of Law and their pledge to
9improve the well-being and mental health of their campuses and
10to better address mental health issues among lawyers, starting
11with law students; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Improving wellness and advancing legal education
13are synchronized interests; addressing these issues within the
14State's communities will result in happier and healthier
15individuals and better students and contributing members of the
16legal profession; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The legal profession has a lengthy history of
18substance abuse and often penalizes individuals seeking help;
19poor student or practitioner health is not a necessary
20byproduct of a rigorous legal education and needs to be treated
21as the scourge of the profession that it is; students left
22behind are not due to a failure of personal strength but are
23testaments to the collective failure to uplift one another and

 

 

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1raise the standards of the legal trade; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Law school student bar associations are joining
3efforts to facilitate well-being and recognize mental health
4issues, to listen to the concerns of the students and be
5responsive to their well-being and mental health struggles, and
6to build a school atmosphere where well-being and mental health
7is recognized as an immediate issue which deserves attention
8and resolution; therefore, be it
 
9    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL
10ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize the need
11to end the stigma surrounding mental health, stand in support
12of the efforts by the law schools of our State to provide
13better access to care, and urge them to continue in their
14efforts to address this issue; and be it further
 
15    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
16presented to the student bar association presidents: Richard C.
17Minott, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law; Hannah G. Johnson,
18John Marshall Law School; Victor Zamora, Northern Illinois
19University College of Law; Mihai F. Chitulescu, University of
20Chicago Law School; Jacob Welch, Southern Illinois University
21School of Law; Dawn Peacock, Chicago-Kent College of Law;
22Ashlee Germany, DePaul University College of Law; Brian P.
23Gibbons, Loyola University Chicago School of Law; and Ashley G.

 

 

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1Kennedy, University of Illinois College of Law as an expression
2of our esteem and respect.