ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW WITH: SUJAYA RAJGURU
CLASS OF 2022 MARCH 28, 2022
PRESENTED BY: UVA LAW SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
Addie Patrick: Okay, good afternoon everyone. My name is
Addie Patrick. I'm the Library coordinator here at the UVA
[University of Virginia] Law Library and today is March
twenty-eighth, Monday, March 28, 2022. And we are here doing an
oral history interview for Virginia Law Women fifty with
Sujaya Rajguru and Sujata Bajracharya. I'm sorry if I
butchered that. So to get started, let's just go around
and introduce ourselves. Starting with Randi.
Randall Flaherty: I am Randi Flaherty. I'm head of Special
Collections at the UVA Law Library and I'm Zooming in from
the Law Library in Charlottesville.
Sujata Bajracharya: I am Sujata Bajracharya I am 2L at the Law
School and I was one of the professional programs co-chairs
for VLW [Virginia Law Women] this year. I'm also Zooming in
from Charlottesville.
Sujaya Rajguru: Hi, I'm Sujaya. I'm a 3L at UVA Law and I'm the
outgoing VLW president. And I'm Zooming in from Charlottesville,
Virginia, as well.
Addie Patrick: And Sujaya you're graduating this year, right? Did
you say that already?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes. I said 3L, but yes, graduating this year.
Addie Patrick: And I'm Zooming in from Washington, DC. I think
I forgot to mention that. Okay, so I'm just going to ask the
first question. Sujaya, why did you decide to join Virginia Law
Women?
Sujaya Rajguru: So, I think my introduction to Virginia Law
Women was kind of serendipitous, I guess you could say. So, when
I was touring law schools, in college, I toured Georgetown
law, and I ran into a woman student there, and I mentioned,
"Oh, I also applied to UVA Law." And she's like, "Oh, one of my
good friends goes to UVA Law, I'll put you in touch with her."
She was super nice. She sent me like an introductory email. And
that introductory email was to Kendall Berchard, who was the
current VLW president. And so then, later that year, I was
admitted to UVA Law, it was actually the only school we
didn't tour before I was admitted, because we didn't
think I'd get in here. And so we went and toured late November.
And I reached out to Kendall, and so I met up with her at
admitted students—or no, just on my tour, it wasn't at any
particular event. And I think that's when I first heard about
Virginia Law Women. Also, on that visit, I sat in on a class
and I—Kendall was like, "Oh, which one are you sitting in on?
I can, like, have you sit next to someone." And of course the
person who I sat next to was Manal Cheema, the incoming VLW
president. And so really, from the start, they just from that
day, they have been incredible mentors to me and women that I
really look up to so much. And so seeing them in the positions
of leadership in VLW really, from that time, I thought, if I
come here, I want to be VLW president. So yes, that's how I
first heard about VLW.
Sujata Bajracharya: So I guess that you already respond to
this, responded to this to some degree, but like, once you
started school, what was your sort of first impression of VLW
as like an overall organization?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes, I guess it kind of seemed like, a place
where I would belong. Like, it could be my group. In college
for me, that was band. And obviously, the Law School
doesn't really have a marching band. And so it seemed like it
was—it seemed like and ended up being a place where I could find
mentors. And, you know, people similar to myself. I was also in
some—a few women's groups in college. And so it seemed like a
place I could find that community. Yes, and it just
seemed really well established as well. Like, they were very
organized. They had a good outline bank, once I knew what
an outline was.
Sujata Bajracharya: Yes, and I know you mentioned, well, I
guess, I don't know if you mentioned it, but I know that
you were a 1L Rep. Can you talk a little bit about joining VLW?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes. So yes, I wanted to be involved in any way
I could. And I mean, truly, the long-term goal was that I wanted
to be president. So I was like, okay, here's the first step. So
yes, it's kind of natural for me to say this is the organization
I want to be involved in and I want to run. Yes, and I mean, I
usually I am not very popular. So I feel like usually not that
successful in elections. But I think I was able to, one of my
friends— I was talking about my campaign strategy. There wasn't
that much campaigning, but I was talking about it with one of my
friends and he was saying like, "Oh, you should like make
yourself associated with VLW." So I'd always post in our
GroupMe about VLW, I'd post about it on social media. So I
tried to make that association.
Sujata Bajracharya: Well, I for one think you're very well
regarded in the Law School so.
Sujaya Rajguru: Well, thank you. [chuckles]
Sujata Bajracharya: When you were a 1L, how was VLW
structured? And is it in any way different now than it was when
you started?
Sujaya Rajguru: I think it's pretty similar. I think part of
it is like, we've been trying to bring some things back
post-pandemic, and some things haven't quite come back in the
same way they were. Like, the committees I think were maybe
more active my 1L year, which, you know, made sense because
more things were in person. And people had seen things in person
the year prior. But yes, I mean, you had the exec board was
pretty similar, and the committees and the general body
and the general body meetings, like once a semester, that was
pretty similar. I guess the exec board, some changes that were
made between my 1L year and this—and now, this previous
year, we had our first year of the DE and I chairs, the
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion chairs. So we converted—that was
under Nicole Banton's presidency. And so we converted
two member at large positions to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
chairs. The member at large is traditionally, I guess, not as
much now. But traditionally, the idea was, it's a 3L who can
provide some more institutional knowledge to the board, which I
do think is of value. But that board is already large. So we
didn't necessarily want to add another position and add numbers
to the board. And Nicole also brought up that we didn't
necessarily want one person having to kind of carry the
weight of that role. So that's why we had two. And then I
also—my 1L year, we didn't have an LLM [Master of Laws] rep, and
then the next year, we didn't have LLMs. Because I think that
board, my 1L year, added the LLM rep position so that their
interests were better represented. Yes, I think those
are the main differences.
Sujata Bajracharya: That is interesting. And just to
clarify, when we're talking about the committees are
specific, are we specifically talking about the public service
and private practice committees? Or are there additional ones
that—
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes, good question. Yes. Okay. Yes. So
actually, my 1L year, we had a public service committee and a
private practice committee. So, the public service committee
would help with Women in Public Service, and the private
practice committee would help with Women in Big Law. And now
since then, we've expanded to have firm lunches and women in
government. And so now in theory, those committees would
help with those events as well, but they're kind of smaller. And
then actually, my year, I was the only 3L on the board,
because we had a 2L member at large, which worked very well.
But I wanted to kind of have some more institutional
knowledge, especially because no one else on my board had ever
experienced in-person events. And so I did form a 3L advisory
committee. So, it was in the email for anyone who just wanted
to be a little more involved. And I reached out personally to
the outgoing board members from my 2L year. And so we formed
that committee, and it was helpful if I wanted to put
together tips about OGI [On Grounds Interviews] for the
membership, or, you know, kind of have a few more 3Ls fill out
certain forms, because they, you know, missed it in the email, I
was able to kind of reach out to them. And in theory, the other
board members could have reached out to them to plan their
events, but I don't know exactly how much they use them for that
purpose.
Sujata Bajracharya: Yes, I will say that Maggie [Woodward] was,
who was on the 3L committee, and was one of the professional
programs co-chairs before me, was like a great help. So I was
glad that she was available. This is jumping a little bit,
but since you sort of brought it up already, I wanted to ask
about how COVID has sort of like affected or shaped your
presidency? And yes.
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes, actually, you know, I was just talking to
Kendall the other day, and she's like, "Yes, and I forgot your
presidency using COVID." I was like, "Oh, yes." Like, that's
not something that other years—like if I compare my
experience to other years, that's just like a whole hurdle
that anyone besides—I guess, Manal and Nicole Banton also had
that, but besides that, no one else has experienced this type
of hurdle. I think one thing that was difficult, I guess one
thing that I guess helped, was in Nicole's year, I think there
was a lot more uncertainty. Because, I mean, there was just
less we knew about the virus and the pandemic in general. We were
doing virtual events and Zoom, kind of for the first time, and
so we were able to figure out how to do virtual events
successfully that year, I think. So, we had that background. But
still, when we came to my year, every semester, we kind of
weren't able to plan things in detail, as in advance, as other
years, because we didn't know what the COVID restrictions
would be. For example, we didn't know if we'd be allowed to have
food at events, if you had to have it after event, or not at
all, what the masking policy was, how many people you could
have together, if it had to be outside or in a room, and then
when it got cold, it's harder to have things outside. So as
Sujata, that's something you've definitely experienced in
planning Women in Public Service. So, I think that was
one of the main hurdles. And also, I think building community
was maybe a little more difficult without kind of the
side conversations after events, if things were virtual. But, I
guess, one of my goals this year, since we were able to do
some more things in person, was to make sure we built up
institutional knowledge from past—that I was able to pass on
all the institutional knowledge to the people who would be at
this Law School after me. So I tried to include a factor in how
we planned events, like, "Do we want to like, show everyone how
this was done previously?" Like, let me just tell you all like,
"This is what we did, just so you know, and you can take that
into account." So, I think that also changed things, that that
was kind of a goal I had. And maybe if that wasn't the case, I
wouldn't have thought as much about what we'd done previously,
and would have been more—I was still open to doing things
differently, based on what the board said. But I think I
probably would have been even more open to doing things very
differently, if I hadn't thought, well, I think people
need to know like how things were at least done previously.
Yes.
Sujata Bajracharya: Yes, and you've mentioned, sort of, you
trying to make sure there was institutional knowledge about
the events that had gone on previously. So maybe it's a good
time to talk about events. What were the VLW programs during
your presidency?
Sujaya Rajguru: I will pull up the term card, so I don't miss
anything. Okay, so in the summer, we did the Summer in the
City events virtually, which I think actually ended up being
more inclusive, because they used to be—and they may be this
year, in person, in like New York, [Washington], D.C.,
wherever we kind of have a good amount of VLW members. But this
way, everyone got to participate in those. So that's for admitted
students and current students. And then we also did a virtual
game night in the summer, which was new. We thought that could
be a fun time for like alums to come back and maybe see each
other, but it ended up being kind of at another admitted
students event, which was fine, I think it was a good time. And
we also started, throughout the year, a networking raffle. So I
wanted to find a way to encourage women to, you know,
not be shy about cold emailing, because I think that's
definitely a tendency. I mean, it's something I've experienced.
And so I thought, well, maybe if you offer a prize for like
sending a screenshot of like your email that you sent to
someone you were talking to at a reception, then you'll be more
likely to do it. So, we haven't had like a ton of participation
in it. But it's a fun thing. And I—you know, if it helped just a
few people, then it's probably worth it. Orientation lunch,
activities fair, general body meetings, those are kind of
typical. We did the faculty wine and cheese again, that's
something we've done for a few years. So we did it outside this
year, and the events co-chairs boxed up the snacks
individually. We did golf lessons again. And so those were
brought back and I think those were pretty well attended. We
had our diversity and clerkships panel. That has been done
previously, but I don't think it was done the last year. So it
was good to have that back again, and in the fall rather
than the spring. So people could kind of have that information
more upfront before they're applying to clerkships. We
co-sponsored a few events with other organizations. Our DE and
I chairs, they hosted an event with DE and I, I forget exactly
the term but like the DE and I positions at firms, to talk
about that. So that was a great inaugural event that they did.
We had a mentor-mentee mixer in the fall, and then we're going
to have a spring garden party in the spring. We did the clothing
swap again, and headshots. We'll be doing those again in the
spring, which is exciting. We did two virtual firm lunches.
I'm sorry, I'm just kind of going down the laundry list.
Maybe I'll try to be a little shorter. Women in Public
Service, obviously, faculty student dinner series, both
semesters, and we had a book club. That's something we tried
to bring back. Women in Big Law that had to be virtual,
unfortunately, for Feb club we did Paletines Day, which is like
inspired by [Parks and Recreation] Leslie Knope's
Galentine's Day, so that was a fun little wine night we did
at—in like the Pavilion Lobby. We did Women in Government
virtually. And we did, we're doing a Women's March Madness
bracket pool. Oh, we also have an undergraduate mentorship
program this year.
Sujata Bajracharya: Which is also new, right?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes. That's also new. Yes.
Sujata Bajracharya: Okay, yes, just like hearing it again.
Shows how busy VLW was this year. And we talked, you
mentioned a little bit earlier about the outline bank. Can you
talk a little bit about the resources that VLW provides?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes, so yes, that outline bank is probably
one of the main ones, I think most people probably pay dues,
mainly to have access to the outline bank. Dues are twelve
dollars. And I think we've expanded our resources over the
years too, especially utilizing our website, and things that are
linked in the email. We have a job spreadsheet, which includes
every class year, you can put in what summer job you have, and
then your post-grad employment. And then alums also fill out a
form and that goes into that spreadsheet. So that's just a
great networking tool. We have a spreadsheet about clinic
information and academic research opportunities. Those
are kind of newer, so we're still developing them. We
started a professor information form this year, so that students
could, if they had questions about how a particular professor
does cold calls, or exams, or something, they could talk to
someone who had had that professor. That's a new one. And
let's see, on the website, we also have resources about—we
have tips for networking and for interviewing, particularly for
OGI. Some tips about businesswear for women. And we
just added some a few weeks ago for summer jobs. Yes, so just
trying to make all of those very available. There's also some for
incoming 1Ls about briefing a case and things like that, too.
Sujata Bajracharya: Yes, on this note, something that I've been
thinking about is, if you could talk about how we sort of made
people—or members aware of the resources, and because I think
that might be useful for future VLW iterations to know about, or
if you have ideas about how that could be improved, also.
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes, I mean, I think that's something I had to
accept is at some point, you're not going to reach everyone,
like you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them
drink. So we tried to reach as many people as we could. I think
one thing I did this year was, when something was relevant and
we had a resource in the weekly email, that was always there,
but kind of at the bottom or on the website, I would plug it in
the intro paragraph of the email, so people would just see
it right away. And then it's like, "Oh, this is relevant to
me right now. I now know this is here." So I tried to do that
throughout the year. And then I think we also tried to plug the
website and the email to the 1Ls when they came in, just so they
knew that here are things VLW offers, whenever you need it. I
think having a lot of these things linked in the email every
week is useful, because again, people can just refer to it when
they need it. I feel like word of mouth is really a good way to
get these things around. And so I feel like that might have been
more difficult in the past couple years. But I feel like
that's probably the best way for people to know what's happening.
And it's definitely something that could be improved upon
more, because sometimes people will ask questions, I'll be
like, "Oh, well, here's this resource that's in the email I
send every week." [chuckles] And I mean, it's fine. You know,
it's a long email. You can't get to—you can't remember everything
but in it, but yes, there could definitely be improvement in
that area, I think.
Sujata Bajracharya: Yes, and were there. Oh, sorry. With the
newer resources, can you share a little bit about the thought
process of adding those?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes, so I guess two aspects of that. One thing I
thought about was how useful certain tips my mentors have
given me personally. And I thought, a way to make this more
equitable, really, is to make those resources available to
everyone, and easy to find, kind of standardized. And so that was
kind of one of my thoughts behind creating these resources.
For example, for the journal tryout, I really felt like it
was useful for one of my mentors to sit down with me and kind of
go through Bluebooking tips. And so I wanted to try to replicate
that in some capacity for the 1Ls this year. So we had an info
session. And then we also sent out an email with like a
compilation of tips for the journal tryout, and selecting a
journal, and stuff like that. So, that's one perspective I
came at it from, and also just kind of thinking about things I
would have liked to know, or what things our board would have
liked to know. And just kind of sharing that knowledge we have
after a year or two of experience in whatever that area
is. And that's not something I began, as well, like
interviewing tips were already on the website when I came in.
So it's kind of easy to duplicate that structure.
Sujata Bajracharya: You talked a little bit—and I feel like this
is also related to thinking about how to expand resources
for 1Ls and stuff like that. But can you talk a little bit
about—and also with the DEI chairs, I guess that's also
relevant, the efforts to appeal to different communities and
identities within the Law School?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes, so I think this has been something that VLW
has really been working on over the past few years. And, you
know, there's probably always more that we could do. And I
look forward to seeing like the different ideas people come up
with, as time goes on. I think having a diverse board really
helped, in the past few years, we've had very diverse
leadership. And I do feel like that probably made people feel
like this is an organization for me, if they saw someone that was
like them on the leadership team. I think something we did
really well this year was co-sponsoring events with other
affinity groups. For example, the diversity in clerkship
event, I think, that one I would love to see that, this type of
structure duplicated in other events. We were feeling—we were
talking to our alumni base and looking at our alumni base for
speakers for the event. And you know, a lot of our alums are
white women. We did have some white women on the panel, they
were really great resources, but we definitely wanted more
diverse voices represented. So Brecken [Petty], who planned
that event as the member at large, she reached out to the
other affinity groups and said, "We're having this event, would
you be interested in co-sponsoring? And do you
have—is there an alum that you think would be a good fit for
this event from your organization?" And so we almost
had someone from BLSA [Black Law Students Association], but I
think they ended up not being available for that date, we
ended up having someone from LALO's [Latin American Law
Organization] alumni base. And then LALO also co-sponsored the
event. So I think that's been a really good thing to do. I know,
in the past, presidents have sent like an invitation to the
general body meeting to the leaders of affinity groups. And
that's also been helpful. And just having the representation
of different groups or people involved and other affinity
groups on the board, that's kind of helpful to coordinate our
programming and make sure, oh we're not doing this thing at
the same time as this other group, or, you know, kind of
just knowing when we're making decisions about any initiative,
if this is something that is going to, you know, appeal to
our broad membership and the diverse perspectives that we
have, if that makes sense.
Sujata Bajracharya: Yes, absolutely. And I guess this is
a little bit the flip side of that, but can you describe the
level of support that VLW received from like other
students, other student groups, and the administration this
year?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes, I think we've generally had a good
relationship working with other student groups. I think the only
potentially not as smooth working with groups in our
political climate, currently, it's kind of difficult to work
with political groups, especially with VLW's apolitical
status. So sometimes those interests may not align quite
right. So I would say maybe that would be the only thing as far
as student groups go. And as far as the administration, I think
the administration knows, the large membership VLW has and the
impact that we have on the student body, like, you know,
just the programming and resources we offer to such a
large number of individuals. And I think they're aware of that.
So, you know, for example, our funding, we had sufficient
funding this year for our programming. We also received
donations from firms. So that's some support we receive. I think
when it comes to institutional changes, the administration
tends to be hesitant. So that would maybe be a little bit of
the flip side of that support.
Sujata Bajracharya: Okay, and what did the transition—well, I
guess you're sort of in the process of transitioning right
now. And so I guess, like, first of all, what did the transition
from Nicole to you look like? And then also, what has it been
like with this transition to Brecken now?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes, so just kind of the standard way we do
transitions, at least at this point in time, every position or
person, depending on the events they planned, submits a
transition memo. And our board this year submitted very
thorough, thoughtful memos, I was really impressed honestly.
And so they send that to the incoming—the president, gmail,
and the incoming people for their position. And they
schedule a transition meeting with them. The transition
meeting is attended by the incoming and outgoing board
members of that position, as well as the current president
and the outgoing president, if possible. So I had them all
schedule the meetings based on all of their schedules. And then
if I was free, then I attended, but I didn't like put my
schedule into account, because like, I was like a lower
priority too—I was just kind of helping with the brainstorming
and institutional knowledge at those types of meetings. So
that's generally just how the transition process works. And
this year, I tried to spread out the meetings a little more,
especially for Brecken's sake. Well, they ended up being kind
of clustered together anyway. But I had some people submit the
transition memo a little earlier, and some a little
later, depending on their responsibilities. And for the
president transition, in particular, that transition memo
was very long, I think, usually, there may be, what would you say
Sujata? Like five pages? Yes, so the president transition memo is
a reference document and it's like twenty-five pages, so it's
a lot. And I also feel like there's a lot of kind of
intangibles to get across that I wanted to get across to Brecken
in our transition. And I mean, Nicole, and I we did ours over
Zoom because she wasn't in Virginia at the time because of
the pandemic. And so, I remember that it was kind of hard to get
through all the material and we had to, like meet twice. So,
with Brecken, I was like, how about you just like come over
and we'll have a glass of wine, and we'll just talk through this
transition memo. So that is what we did. And so it was like, a
few hours, we talked and discussed everything, but she
had read the whole thing in advance, and like, made notes
and everything. I was very impressed. And she had questions
and those got answered. And so basically, after spring break,
that was right before spring break, after spring break, I had
her start sending the weekly emails. And that's pretty much,
after that in the transition meetings, I would say it's like,
pretty officially transitioned. Like, I wouldn't say I am
overseeing anything at this point.
Sujata Bajracharya: Okay, and so at this point, like reflecting
back on your presidency, what do you feel like were your greatest
successes, and what do you feel like was particularly
challenging?
Sujaya Rajguru: Well, I think, I do feel like I am pretty proud
of the year we had, I feel like I do really do tend to be
self-critical, but I'm really happy with what myself and the
board did for VLW this year. I guess one number I'm proud of is
we have like about three hundred dues paying members, which—last
year I think was a little lower than usual, but it's double,
almost, last year's numbers, which is really exciting because
that tells me that that many women feel like this is a place
for them, or they at least think that the outline bank would be
useful, which is also fine. [chuckles] I think I'm really
proud of actually this VLW fifty project. I was a history major
in college. And so this type of thing is really right up my
alley. So I'm kind of glad that I was president in the year that
this was happening. And so I'm proud that we, I mean, mostly
actually, you all the Special Collections, the Library have
put together the VLW fifty website, and we're doing these
oral history interviews, and we had enough interest from the
board to help with that where needed. And I think people were
kind of excited about it. And we also did the VLW fifty
sweatshirts along with this. And that was—there's a few things
this year, like pretty much all the new ideas I was mentioning,
they were things I had had ideas about for the past year or two
years. And they were just ideas. And so it's been really cool to
see things like that, like the sweatshirts actually come to
life. So I'd say yes, that's probably one of the things I'm
the most proud of. Yes, how the organization has grown. And this
project, I think this is the main thing like I oversaw more
personally. And then the biggest challenges. I think, I would say
kind of, generally speaking, is the apolitical status of
organization, that kind of leads to the most, like
difficult-to-navigate situations. So, I think this has
come up in the potential to do events with some of the more
like political organizations on Grounds. That's been kind of
difficult, not only just concretely in my actions, but in
kind of just thinking about how VLW or myself would be perceived
for wanting to do something with this group, or that group, or
not this group and not that group.
And then with the DE and I chairs, I think my main goal
with DE and I and VLW, my main thing I'm thinking of in that,
and in any context is, what best serves our members. That's like
my primary thought when I'm thinking about what the best
decision is. And so with DE and I I thought, okay, what makes
all of our members feel included and is serving all of our
members best and their different needs and interests and
perspectives? But I think when you talk about DE and I, we kind
of were in a tricky spot, in early on in this year, and
trying to also be advocates and advocates for how many things?
And I mean, as you saw, our board does so much. You know,
you have to draw a line somewhere. And it's where is
that line, of course, every issue affects women in some way.
But we have other organizations at this School that discuss, you
know, world issues and issues that concern women and other
groups. And so I think it was difficult early on, to decide
what to speak on and in what capacity. More specifically, in
our emails, we have anti-racism resources at the beginning. So
Nicole had a long list of them at the beginning. And that was
the first time we had done that, especially with the Black Lives
Matter movement in 2020. And so for me, I thought we should
shorten this list and maybe vary it every so often. So then it's
kind of more accessible for people to read. And so we
started doing that. And I think me and some of the other board
members had different conceptions of what VLW should
speak on or not. And then that gets difficult because people
also just have different views on particular issues. And so
then it's like, well, what stance should we take and how do
we decide what stance we should take?
Sujata Bajracharya: No, I think that that was helpful. And
actually wanted to go back and talk a little bit about some of
the projects that you mentioned, I was wondering if you could
talk a little bit about how the VLW fifty project sort of got
started on our end. And then also, I wanted to ask you about
sort of the period campaign drive that you're doing, since
you mentioned sort of like advocacy?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes. So the VLW fifty project. So there was an
email in the inbox, I think, from when Nicole was president,
that you know, it's just something that's slipped through
the cracks. I think one of you probably emailed us, and were
saying, we did this interview with the founder of VLW, would
you be interested in, you know, doing some sort of project with
the Library to commemorate VLW's fiftieth anniversary? And so
then when I took the presidency, then, you know, again, like I
said, based on my background, that was something that
personally interested me, and I did think it was important to
commemorate it. Yes, I, so then I reached out and established a
connection with Addie and Randi and we had some meetings about
what we wanted this to look like. Oh, another key piece of
our involvement. So UVA Law communications, put out a piece
about VLW's fiftieth anniversary, and based on the
information that they found or was available to them, it did
largely focus on white women's contributions to the
organization. And it focused a lot on the founder, which makes
sense, because that's the oral history that had been done. But
I think Nicole and other people I talked to from VLW, you know,
were disappointed that, you know, it was kind of miss—it was
it had a missing piece, they felt that it had a missing
piece. And that was the voice of women of color. And so with this
project, something that I had said early on, was that I really
would love to see more of a comprehensive history of VLW and
to know what the contributions of women of color were to this
organization, and what the dynamics have been, like, really
realistically. Like, for example, I think for all, for
our knowledge Manal could have been the first woman of color
president, but it turns out that that's not true. So anyway, that
was also a piece that drove me at least to want to have this
project happen to be able to tell that more full story. So
hopefully, there'll be a piece in UVA Law communications in the
near future to give that more full story. Yes. And then the
period initiative. Yes, okay. So when I was—there's a few,
somewhat advocacy or new initiative type of things that
we thought that we had tabled in the fall. And so then at our
January or February meeting, in the spring, I brought all of
those up and was like, we don't have much time left, I know, you
know, we're probably all close to capacity. But what type of
things do we want to work on? And so one of those things that
I had looked into—I remembered my 1L year that there had been
some talk in the SBA [Studen Body Association] women's
committee about trying to provide menstrual products in
the restrooms in the Law School. And I remember hearing, I
remembered hearing about it, but wasn't really sure what had
kind of come of it. I mean, there weren't any in the
restroom. So I knew that much. [chuckles] But I so I reached
out to the person who I thought had said something about it. And
we met and she told me like, things had kind of fallen off
because of COVID, which, you know, many things did. But she
told me kind of their general plan that they had had for
advocacy. And apparently, SBA had asked a few years back if
they could have products in the restrooms, and they had been
told no. And so that's why—I'm sorry, I'm not telling the story
chronologically. And so that's why the women's committee my 1L
year had kind of come up with a plan. So their ideas were to do
a drive for menstrual products and put the box in a place where
administrators would see it. And so then we did actually do that
and we donated the products to SHE [Shelter for Help in
Emergency]. I would have to look up—I don't exactly know the
acronym. Do you remember, Sujata?
Sujata Bajracharya: Yes, Shelter for Help in Emergency.
Sujaya Rajguru: Okay, thank you. Yes, so we did that drive, it
was actually really successful. That was really exciting. So I
think they were going to do that in conjunction with a different
step. But I wanted to have this board take affirmative steps
toward this initiative, so that I wasn't just handing off
something that hadn't had anything concretely done to the
next board. And their other idea was a petition and research
about what other T-fourteen schools did. And so I presented
that to the board and it was actually something that everyone
was really passionate about, and was like, "Well, yes, we should
definitely have these in the restrooms, we have toilet
paper." Anyway, and so, on that front, we did the drive. And we
wanted to gather more information before taking any
more steps. And so I reached out to the Library, because the
Library actually they you guys provide or anyways, I don't know
if you guys technically make sense. But anyway, the Library
provides menstrual products and baskets near the circulation
desk. And actually now like as of spring break, the Library
provides menstrual products in at least the all gender and
women's restrooms in the Library. I don't know about the
men's, since I've not been in the men's restroom. But—so
that's really exciting, actually. I'm sorry, I kind of
lost my train of thought. Okay, yes. So I talked to the Library
about where those come from, and apparently it comes from the
Library's budget. And then I emailed Student Affairs and
asked if that's something—I asked about the ones in the
Library at first, because I wasn't sure, I was just asking
both people where that was funded. And I asked Student
Affairs about that. And then if they could be provided in other
restrooms, and in so many words, I was told no. And so I mean,
that was kind of—if they had just said, "Yes," that would
have been pretty easy, but they didn't. And so now, I think the
new board is also very passionate about this project.
And they'll be taking more steps to, I think, gather information
and raise awareness about it, and hopefully actually create
some change. Like the business school, and the undergrads, I'm
pretty sure have them.
Sujata Bajracharya: I'm glad that we talked about this,
because I feel like it's a very important project. And I wanted
to make sure that we got this recorded as well. Okay, since
we're getting a little bit closer towards the end, I wanted
to ask about how you reflect on your experience in VLW and also
if there any specific relationships that you've built
with members? You talked a little bit about Manal and
Nicole, but just like if there are other mentorships or support
systems, that you've got through VLW?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes, maybe I'll start the second question first.
So yes, I did already talked about Kendall and Manal. Yes,
those are definitely really important relationships I built
through VLW, essentially. I think I wish I had gotten to
spend more time in person with the board my 2L year, because I
feel like I didn't really get a chance to know everyone super
well, if I didn't already know them. Well, Maggie, for example,
she was on that board, and she's in my section. So I would say
we've had a close relationship outside of VLW, but also in it,
I—she's someone who I've actually kind of run things by
even this year as president just kind of as an outside source of
information or, you know, another opinion. So we've been
really close. And that's been really wonderful. And also
mentees, I've met through VLW, that's been really wonderful to
kind of have the roles flipped as well. And my board this year,
everyone, I was really, really lucky to have very kind, mature,
dedicated individuals on the board. And I mean, I would
consider myself at least acquaintances with all of them.
Law School is busy, so I can't say we've all like, hung out one
on one at the time. But yes, those are also really important
relationships. Can you remind me the first part of the question?
Sujata Bajracharya: It was more general, just sort of how you
reflect on your experience in VLW and I guess I'll also link
in just if there's anything that you wanted to talk about that we
haven't touched on yet?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes. Yes. So being president of VLW is is
definitely my favorite thing. And the most fulfilling thing
that I've done in Law School. I think for me, Law School really
has been difficult, I guess it's difficult for everyone. But
academically, it's been very difficult. And some of the
things we have to do, like have not felt super directly
connected to my career interests, and you know, civil
rights and social justice and things like that. And it can
also, it's kind of hard sometimes I think, to be
preparing for an exam when it's like, you know, the grade is
just for you at that point. And you're kind of at a point where
you want to be serving others. And so VLW was really cool,
because I really had the chance to serve others in a very like
concrete and impactful way. And I have the chance to shape the
organization, which is something I've never really had the chance
to do before, I've never been in kind of a, like everything came
back to me at one point as president, the way the
organization is structured, and the board is very much a team
and we vote on lots of things, but still, like, the final
decision would, you know, come to me or if someone had
questions, eventually the question would come to me. And I
was able to say, "Oh, how about we do this?" And then the board
is like, "Yes, that sounds great. Let's do it." And we
figured out how to do it. Yes, so it was really, really cool to
have—to be able to do that. To the extent that I feel like in
my future career, I'd love to, I don't know, if I could be VLW
president, somehow, in my career in the future, I think that
would be fun. But to be in an administrative role, or to, like
the delegating, and the planning, and that type of
thing, I think I found actually plays really well to my skill
set, and is just like, really, really fulfilling to me. And
even just working with the board, that type of like,
interaction, I think is really enjoyable for me. So I think
that's kind of how I would really reflect like, personally,
and we already talked about the things I'm proud of that our
organization does, so I won't repeat myself there.
Sujata Bajracharya: Okay, thank you. I'm just going to hand it
back to Addie and Randi, if they have anything that they wanted
to follow up on.
Randall Flaherty: Well I could build off of your last answer. I
was wondering where you think Virginia Law Women makes the
biggest impact?
Sujaya Rajguru: I think I would say, in part because people are
kind of most tuned in to things they're 1L year, I think it
makes the biggest impact for 1Ls academically. Especially now we
have a 1L listserv that the scholarship chair runs, and
she's given kind of tips throughout the year. Maybe not
even academically, I would say it probably makes the biggest
impact providing support in the 1L year. It provides support
through outline bank and academic resources, which we
also have a supplement library—I keep thinking of things we've
added. Anyways, lots of academic resources, because we remember
all the struggles we had going through that year. And also
mentorship. Mentors, I think, not only are such an asset for
academic things, and job things, but really emotional support.
And I know my mentors have had confidence in me when I haven't
had confidence in myself, and really encouraged me to pursue
different opportunities or, you know help me decide when, you
know, that's not an opportunity that's worth my time and things
like that. So just providing that type of personal support,
because the 1L year I think is really difficult mentally. And
so, I think VLW does do a good job of providing that support
the 1L year, and I think will continue to do even better as
the organization tries to expand the community aspect, especially
in a post pandemic world. Yes, I think largely because that's
when people use it the most. I think that's the most impactful,
because we offer resources at other stages of your career as
well. But I think at that point, people have access to more of a
variety of resources and mentors. Yes.
Addie Patrick: I have a question about since, you know, since the
organization is so large now, three hundred members plus, I'm
curious about, and I don't know exactly how to properly word
this question, but I'm curious about sort of gender and
Virginia Law Women and how, you know, how is the organization
perceived amongst the entirety of the Law School populace?
Because it seems that a lot of the resources you provide don't
necessarily have to do with with gender, you know, outline bank
and that sort of thing.
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes, so actually I feel like it's kind of a clear
divide in the sense if you operate under the assumption
that women are a disadvantaged group. And the point of the
resources is to bring women up to the level of more advantaged
groups. So I think that's kind of the way the line is drawn in
that sense, because yes, like an outline bank is not inherently
like about gender, but it's about making the opportunities
more equal to a group that has been historically disadvantaged.
And I mean, there's still, you know, inequality you can see
today, but I think especially historically, and it's important
to maintain that because, again, who's, you know, maybe because
we have these resources, that's what helps even the playing
field a little bit more. And I think as far as its perception
on Grounds on at the Law School, I think sometimes men are
wanting to be involved in VLW, or sometimes men come, a few men
came to the diversity and clerkships event. And I mean,
that made sense because it was a speaker, and some of those
people may be from historically marginalized groups as well. And
that would, that was a useful event for them. So VLW does do
some things that I think serve the whole student body. At the
end of last year, we had not spent a lot of the money in our
budget. So I thought, you know, we should try to do something at
the end of the year to, you know, make up for some of the
events we hadn't gotten to do. So we decided to do finals
snacks. I'm always concerned about 1ls not eating enough
during finals. So anyway, we just like two of my board
members went to Costco and just bought like a ton of snacks, and
like good stuff, like the Milano cookies and the Starbucks
drinks. And we just like lined the whole, like front hallway of
the Law School was snacks. They may do it again this year, I'm
not sure. Because like I said, we kind of did it because you
know, just to make up for events we hadn't done. But that was
something that served the whole Law School. And people were
really like appreciative of it. Dean [Risa] Goluboff actually
even posted on her Instagram about it, which I thought was
cool. [chuckles] And so we do things that serves the whole Law
School, and I think people understand that the resources
are provided to women in particular, because women are
historically marginalized group and people, you know, respect
that and think it's a good thing.
Addie Patrick: I have I know, we're very close to time. And so
I don't—I have another question, though, that gets a little bit
more into the philosophy of the organization. So you mentioned,
and explained quite well, that it's an apolitical organization.
And that's in part because there are other organizations that
serve, you know, political purposes here at the Law School.
But I believe in a previous conversation, you talked about
how it is a deliberate decision at the beginning of each year
to—whether to go more political or apolitical? Did you have that
conversation at the beginning of your presidency?
Sujaya Rajguru: Yes, so I actually think I didn't have it
early enough. But in the summer, we did have a meeting where we
voted on the constitution and our bylaws, and the
co-sponsorship factors. I think Manal talked about that in her
interview. But basically, it's a list of factors that a previous
board initially drafted. And those help us guide our decision
whether to co-sponsor an event or not. So it has things like,
is it—are there women on the panel? Would this agitate our
membership? Or I don't know, just things like that, like, is
this a good fit for us, basically, and here's the
factors to guide us. And then, if we're—I mean, unless it's
like we're co-sponsoring, you know, like, a diversity
reception or something, that one I, you know, we can, I think
that's not very controversial, but for a lot of things that we
would co-sponsor, especially with groups that may be
perceived as political, then the board votes on it. And I guess,
backing up a second, sorry, I tried, in the beginning of my
presidency, to vote on more things than I did later, to kind
of get an idea of what the board's preferences were like,
where do they feel the line is here? And so then later on,
sometimes if it wasn't, again, if it wasn't too controversial,
then I would maybe just run it by Camille, my vice president,
be like, "Oh, what do you think?" And then often we would
like agree, or she'd have a new perspective and be like, "Okay,
that sounds good. We will include this or won't have
this," or something like that. Yes, but when we do vote, we
would vote on it. And then I would make the final call on it
by looking at the votes and seeing if there's overwhelming
support. But that was hepful in a few ways because it was—the
idea was it's never one individual making the decision
and it's not going to be guided just by individual opinions on
anything. It's guided by these concrete factors. Is that
helpful?
Addie Patrick: Yes, no, that answered my question. Okay, so
we are one minute away. Randi or Sujata do you have any last
questions? Okay, I'm seeing head shaking. Well, thank you,
Sujaya, for taking the time to talk with us about your
experiences. And thank you Sujata, for being the lead
interviewer here. I'm going to stop the recording and then
we'll tie up any loose ends that we have.