'Melrose' Star Aids HLS Program

About 200 students from a local high school gathered at Harvard Law School (HLS) yesterday for a deliberative forum led by Melrose Place star Andrew Shue and Lawrence Lessig, Berkman professor of entrepreneurial legal studies.

The forum was designed to discuss the fairness of school rules at the Madison Park School, a vocational school in Roxbury where much of the audience were students.

The event was sponsored by Do Something, an organization created by Shue and Lessig to help young people become involved in their communities. Jennifer K. Harvey, a second-year student at HLS, organized the event.

The students, selected at random from Madison Park's student body, were joined by four teachers and school Principal Diana Jones.

The forum began at 8 a.m. in Pound Hall with a group session that highlighted the issues to be discussed. Participants then broke into smaller groups of 15 students led by HLS students. These small groups discussed the issues in greater detail.

The group was then served lunch at HLS, where Lessig and Shue delivered speeches. They returned to their small groups after lunch, and reconvened together later in the day to share their thoughts.

Harvey stressed the importance of building a sense of awareness among the students as a motivating factor for the event.

"Just getting the students to think about things critically in a way that they would normally not stop to do was very important to us," she said.

One of the most highly contested issues was the school's attendance policy. Because many students do not live near the school, they say they find it difficult to get to early-morning classes on time. If they are late more than three times, they can be suspended. The students are also not allowed to leave school during the day.

The students also voiced concerns with their dress code.

Madison Park students are prohibited from wearing hats, beepers and T-shirts with offensive language, among other rules.

Students complained that the policies were too strict and said they are being punished for things done by previous students.

Lessig said some teachers present at the forum were initially hurt by the fact that students were so upset at the rules. Although the teachers were initially somewhat defensive, according to Lessig, both groups became increasingly open to discussion as the day progressed.

"So far it has been worthwhile," Lessig said. "The question now is what they will do with it."

Professor of Law Bruce L. Hay, who attended the forum, noted the emergence of many natural leaders from of the student body.

He called this remarkable and very encouraging.

"Many real leaders emerged. Whether these natural leaders will be able to get anyone to go along with them is another question," Hay said.

Do Something has been involved with several community projects. Founded in 1993, the organization has created the Kindness and Justice Challenge and the Do Something League pilot program, aimed at inspiring students to be leaders within their community.

Harvard's Berkman Center for the Internet and Society presented a live Web broadcast of the event.