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Puerto Rican students settle in at FSU Law

Senior Editor Regular News
Erin O’Hara O’Connor and Julian Rendon
FSU LAW Dean Erin O’Hara O’Connor and Julián Rendón.

Puerto Rican students settle in at FSU Law

Senior Editor

After listening to Hurricane Maria’s 185 mph winds claw at his family’s suburban San Juan home, second-year law student Julián Rendón isn’t fazed by the weekend rowdiness that occasionally marks campus life at Florida State University.

He’s just grateful to be anywhere with electricity and running water.

“I actually have my own apartment, a four-bedroom apartment, by myself,” Rendón says. “It gets a little noisy on the weekends, you know, it’s a frat house. But I do my best. If not, I can just go to the library.”

Rendón and four of his University of Puerto Rico School of Law classmates were the guests of honor at a recent afternoon social thrown by FSU Law School Dean Erin O’Hara O’Connor.

O’Connor said she got the idea to take in Maria victims after other law school deans offered to do the same for FSU law students when Hurricane Irma threatened Tallahassee. Once the decision was announced, O’Connor said, donations and offers of help came pouring in.

“More than 100 alumni reached out and offered support,” O’Connor told the crowd. “It’s just been really, really impressive.”

About 60 or 70 faculty, staff, and alumni joined O’Connor in the law school’s rotunda on October 23 to sample Puerto Rican cuisine, sip coconut water and — at least in Rendón’s case — talk about the weather.

Wearing a navy blue polo emblazoned with a Barcelona crest (his favorite soccer club), the affable 25-year-old smiled easily and joked about his newfound celebrity. His gaze narrowed only briefly when he described Maria’s 4 a.m. pummeling of Cupey, his San Juan neighborhood.

Rendón was home with his parents and two siblings.

“We were trying to sleep, but obviously, it was really hard,” he said. “It was like out of this world. You could hear the wind through the windows, and the palm trees cracking and just falling down.”

Rendón says the house fared relatively well.

“Structurally, nothing really big happened, it got a little flooded, but a lot of palm trees fell on top of it. We were blocked in for like two days because a palm tree fell like right in front of our garage.”

A month after the storm, recovery back home was moving slowly, and his house remained without power, Rendón says.

“I’ve been talking to my family frequently, and they told me it’s still not there. . . . We just got water like probably two or three days ago. But most of the island still doesn’t have electricity, a third of the island doesn’t have water.”

FSU is the only college in Florida that so far has received displaced law students, but Rendón isn’t the only storm victim who relocated for the sake of education.

Last week, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart reported registering 3,066 Puerto Rican students in Florida public schools, and 474 from the Virgin Islands. Sen. Victor Torres, D-Kissimmee, of Puerto Rican descent, broke down in tears as he urged a spending subcommittee to consider more support for the victims.

“Millions of Americans, like my uncle — mi tio — are suffering daily because of a lack of needs,” Torres said.

Rendón’s maternal grandparents, who are in their 80s, are no exception, Rendón said. Forced to leave the island for the first time in their lives, they’re staying with relatives in Pennsylvania.

Like many island natives, Rendón watched President Donald Trump’s tweetstorm with the mayor of San Juan with alarm. Trump doesn’t appear to grasp that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, Rendón says.

“It’s a difficult situation, obviously. But, I mean, if I’m being completely honest, I have to say I kind of agree with some of the things the mayor is saying,” Rendón says. “The president hasn’t really been very clear with what he wants to do with Puerto Rico. We are a U.S. territory after all, so we should receive the same amount of help as any other state and that, unfortunately, has not been the case.”

The University of Puerto Rico avoided major structural damage, according to official reports, but friends told Rendón the campus is a mess, with trees down everywhere. Immediately after the storm, it wasn’t clear when power could be restored.

Rendón was at the airport in San Juan, waiting to board a flight to Miami to visit an aunt in Boca Raton, when he got word through a friend about the FSU law school opportunity.

“I emailed him immediately,” Rendón said. “I figured, I’m at the airport already, I’m going to Florida, so I might as well just go to Florida State. It was like in an instant, so fast.”

Rendón was the first Puerto Rican student to arrive at FSU, and he says he has been flooded by offers of support. A student mentor showed him the town and introduced him to other students. His apartment is within walking distance of campus, so transportation hasn’t been a problem.

“Everyone’s been so welcoming. The faculty, the staff, the students, everyone’s trying to help us as much as they can. And it’s been great.”

Rendón says the academic transition has also been smooth since he started classes on October 9. FSU administrators worked with the ABA to modify the law school curriculum. This semester, Rendón says he is taking several classes, including energy and power law, public health law, and business ethics.

“What I’m learning here, it’s going to be super useful for when I do actually take corporations. And I’ve always had an interest in health law, and it’s a growing field, so I don’t think they offer that at home, so it was a good opportunity.”

Marie Masson, president-elect of the Puerto Rican Bar Association of Florida, says administrators were shooting for an October 30 deadline to reopen the damaged university in Puerto Rico. Other displaced law students are studying in New York and Pennsylvania.
Masson says her group is continuing to raise money to support the students, including a Go Fund Me campaign. Donors can go to PRBAFlorida.org for more information.

Meanwhile, overwhelmed by his warm welcome and uncertain about Puerto Rico’s future, Rendón is thinking seriously about a full-time transfer to FSU. His attorney mother heads a labor law division at a firm back home, and he’s considering following in her footsteps. He’s also interested in environmental law and sports.

“It just breaks that stereotype that lawyers are like super strict, and that they are always just looking out for themselves. The No. 1 example here at Florida State is everyone’s been welcoming me. They said, like, the heck with competition, we just want to help people,” Rendón said. “Which is really what being a lawyer is all about, wanting to help people.”

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