Law students chosen to host national symposium for first time

June 18, 2013

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida Levin College of Law’s Federalist Society Student Chapter has been selected to host the 33rd National Federalist Society Student Symposium.

The symposium attracts hundreds of law student members from across the country each year. The conference, which will be held in the spring of 2014, will address contemporary issues in the perennial debate concerning where to draw lines among security, freedom and privacy.

“We are excited to have the University of Florida chapter hosting our annual student symposium for the first time,” said Eugene Meyer, Federalist Society president and CEO. “Based on our vetting process, the UF chapter’s history of achievement, and their dynamic current leadership, we are very confident that the executive committee will organize and execute a tremendous event.”

With only one exception in the last 32 years, the student conference has been hosted by a law school ranked in the top 15 in the nation.

“Hosting this prestigious event is a great honor for our chapter,” said Devon Westhill, UF chapter president and chairman of the symposium. “We are indebted to the past leaders of the UF chapter, our dedicated faculty adviser Steven Willis, our supportive administration, and the financial support from alumni and friends such as the James Madison Institute for helping to make this possible. This honor demonstrates the University of Florida’s position as a preeminent national institution.”

At the symposium, students are able to meet scholars, network with each other, and attend speeches, panels, and debates on pressing law and public policy issues. Scholars who have recently participated in this annual event have included: U.S. Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and Michael Lee, numerous state and federal judges, law school professors, and legal and public policy experts.

The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy is a nonpartisan organization that consists of conservatives and libertarians who seek to promote the principles that the “state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be,” according to the Federalist Society website.