Chilean Delegation Learns About the “Safe Streets” Program and Participates in a Circle

chiloe 1On Wednesday, the Chilean students began their day with Professor Irene Calboli, who spoke to them about the experience of being trained in a civil law tradition only then to work in a common law system.   The students also discovered a common interest in patent law and the conversation soon turned to that topic.

The Hurtado students then met individually with professors on their research topics.  

(Professor Paul Secunda met with Fernanda Gajardo on labor law; Professor Alan Madry met with Andrea Cerda on eminent domain; Professor Louise Cainker met with Diego Aguilar on multiculturalism).  According to Professor Secunda,  “It was a wonderful meeting with Fernanda on labor and employment law. It went so well that we are meeting again at 11 am today.”  The Hurtado students informed me the interviews were key to their research agendas.

At lunch, while the Hurtado faculty joined with members of our own faculty at the Lunda room, the students attended a brown bag with MULS students, an event co-sponsored by the Labor & Employment Law Society.   Present were leaders from various MULS student groups, including the Student Bar Association, Hispanic Students Law Association, Public Interest Law Society, Hablando del Derecho, American Constitutional Society for Law and Public Policy, and Saint Thomas More Society.   In Eisenberg Hall, they sat around the large tables and introduced themselves. Professor Paul Secunda observed, “It went really well. Lots of laughing and camaraderie.  The students stood up and introduced themselves and talked of their various organizations. Although we had translators, what was great was that many of our student leaders used their Spanish to introduce themselves.”

In the afternoon, we were joined by Distinguished Professor and Director of the MULS Restorative Justice Initiative, Janine Geske and headed to the South Side of Milwaukee in an MU athletic van.  At the Kosciusko Community Center, we met with Paulina de Haan, co-coordinator of the Safe Streets Program, who had convened a circle of community members:  parole officers, offenders who recently finished their prison terms, and policemen.    Professor Geske first gave an overview of the theory of circles, which emphasizes the idea that we all belong to the same community and that alternative processes can help reconcile differences.  Ms. de Haan then instructed us that  we could only talk when he held the “talking piece” (a carved stone).  This practice helped us learn how to listen when we were without the piece.    All of us shared our definition of community; the experience of being Latino in the United States and in Chile (and, in my case, of living in both cultures); and finally how crime and violence have impacted our own lives.  The students were completely stunned to watch the two policemen sit next to the offenders, and impressed by the approachable and caring demeanor of the law enforcement agents.  Chilean Professor Pablo Contreras explained, “Our police are not like that.”   The experience greatly affected the delegation, which has begun to contemplate ways of bringing the techniques to its own country.

In the evening, Professor Jay Grenig hosted the delegation in his home in Delafield, stuffing us with his home-cooked, Wisconsin-style BBQ and sharing local eating delights like brats and Wisconsin cheese.   Also in attendance were MULS students, who presented a gift to the Hurtado delegation of a framed photo of our namesake Pere Marquette.   As Professor Grenig remarked, “It was one of the liveliest parties at our house.”  Indeed, the Chileans and the Americans enjoyed conversations in Spanish and English as they munched on homemade foods.  The highlight was making sundaes with Professor Grenig’s homemade ice cream.

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. Peter Heyne

    I would just like to express public gratitude to Prof. Grenig for his very warm hospitality (he was particularly attentive to my wife and young children, e.g., showing my toddler son the centuries-old grand oak tree in his backyard). The food was excellent!

    Also, I would like to thank publicly Prof. Laplante for helping to organize the event, and my younger but more accomplished brother Thomas Heyne, who despite the rigors of medical school, provided the Spanish translation of the biography of Father Marquette for the plaque that the visiting Chilean students received.

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