Thanks to the student newspaper, The Cross Examiner, for contributing this article.
Pasta Interest Nets PIN Success
By Evan Haggerty ‘12
Do you know what $2,000 worth of pasta looks like? Sixty lucky bidders are about to find out.
On February 18th, during live auction bidding, Professor Paula Franzese offered as a prize one dinner for 30 featuring her family’s famous penne á la vodka. As the bids rose and the tensions grew, it was clear there were two contenders: 1L Sections B and M. After a tightly-contested auction, Section M claimed victory until Professor Franzese, displaying her continued kindness, announced both sections would be winners of the coveted meal.
Pasta wasn’t the only double order on the menu, as Dean Patrick Hobbs offered double dishes of golf and basketball alike. Instead of four Big East basketball tickets and hosting a round of golf at Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club, the Dean graciously multiplied his offer, making not seven, but 14 people’s lives now complete.
The live auction capped a four-day fundraiser presented by the Seton Hall Law Public Interest Network (PIN). The annual, student-oriented event raises money for the Public Interest Summer Fellowship program and the Public Interest Loan Repayment and Assistance Program.
From February 15-18, tables lined the atrium, displaying a plethora of valuable and one-of-a-kind items offered in silent auction. Silent bidders could bid on a series of items ranging from outings and dinners with professors, to sporting event tickets and Broadway shows, to beer, wine and themed baskets donated by the 1L sections.
For those uninterested in bidding or the ensuing bedlam, there was much fun to be had in purchasing tickets for the wine raffle or buying a piece of Louisiana-made King Cake to keep with the green-purple-and-gold Mardi Gras theme. And yes, the cake was made in New Orleans.
Finally, eight jars were set to collect contributions for the annual “Pie In the Face” event, which occurred Thursday in the atrium. Jeering students looked on as Professor Wilfredo Caraballo was pied by a former student, while Student Body Association President Jim Hlavenka and Professor Charles Sullivan traded whipped cream blows.
The Public Interest Summer Fellowship program offers a $4,000 stipend to students working full-time for 10 weeks in a public interest organization or other entity that provides legal services to underserved populations. Last year, the auction raised over $20,000, which was distributed among 34 students who worked nationally and abroad in public and government jobs during the summer of 2009.
The PIN executive board, under the direction of 3L Christina Coiro, devoted significant time and effort to the project, establishing the auction as a four-day staple in the atrium. PIN advisor Madeline Kurtz and more than 30 student volunteers were also vital to the auction’s success.