During the first week of January 2006 and 2007 Professor Ron Volkmer has led a group of law students on a one week immersion experience to the Dominican Republic. This project is a culmination of Professor Volkmer’s participation in Creighton’s Education for Justice Committee and the Faculty Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education.

The program is based on the goals and ideals formulated by the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., in his landmark Santa Clara speech of 2000. In that talk Fr. Kolvenbach stated that “we must raise our Jesuit education standard to educate the whole person of solidarity for the real world.” That solidarity, stated Fr. Kolvenbach, is learned through “contact” rather than through “concepts.” As the Superior General put it:

When the heart is touched by direct experience, the mind may be challenged to change. Personal involvement with innocent suffering, with the injustice others suffer, is the catalyst for solidarity which gives to intellectual inquiry and moral reflection... Students must let the gritty reality of this world into their lives, so they can learn to feel it, think about it critically, respond to its sufferings and engage it constructively. They should learn to perceive, think, judge, choose and act for the rights of others, especially the poor and the oppressed.

As was true of previous law school sponsored trips to the Dominican Republic, the 2006 and 2007 Law School programs were conducted under the auspices of Creighton’s ILAC (Institute for Latin American Concern) office. Students apply to this program, are interviewed, and attend preparation meetings. They raise money to pay for the costs of the trip with assistance from the ILAC office. During the past two years, the Dean of the Law School and the Student Bar Association have made generous donations to the program.

The 2006 participants consisted of eleven Creighton Law students and one student from St. Louis University School of Law. The 2007 participants consisted of eight Creighton Law students and one graduate student enrolled in the Werner Institute for Negotiation and Dispute Resolution. Jim Howell-Burke, the Director of ILAC/Omaha, joined the 2007 group.

The 2006 and 2007 participants had a true “immersion” experience with a variety of experiences: trip to a local jail and domestic violence center; overnight trip to Dajabon and witnessing the influx of Haitians across the border on market day; tour of the “cultural center”- Centro Leon; a tour of a Haitian batey (Batey Liberdad); going to the local Catholic university to visit with law students; listening to a university lecturer speak to current Dominican issues; a day long trip to the capital of Santo Domingo which included a personal audience with the Attorney General and a tour of the Supreme Court .

In both years the students participated in a service project at an elementary school (Rafaela Jiminian de la Cruz) located in Santiago’s largest barrio – Cienfuegos. The 2007 group also participated in a service project at Las Lamas – a campo village located in the mountains. Integral to the whole purpose of the trip was the time spent in reflections and prayer. Fr. Pat Malone, S.J., who is in residence at the ILAC Center, led these sessions.