Dining for Success: WLC Hosts Etiquette Dinner
Annual Etiquette Dinner, hosted by the Women's Law Caucus and Career Services Office
For one night each fall, professors, staff, and third-year students don black and white as waiters and waitresses. The Women's Law Caucus and the Career Services Office held the annual Etiquette Dinner and reception on September 28. More than 40 turned out soak in a few expert tips on sipping soup and breaking bread.
Etiquette expert Audrey Beckley was on hand to instruct students on the finer points of holding wine glasses (on the stem for white wine; around the goblet for reds), cutting meat (spear only the piece you want to eat) and choosing the proper utensil (if all else fails, look to your host for clues).
The $22-a-plate dinner, held following a wine and cheese reception, was served in the School's third-floor lounge, overlooking Kirkwood Ave. and downtown Bloomington. On the menu? Pasta—"cut it with your fork; don't ever twirl it with your spoon," advises Beckley—and a chicken dish, salad, and cheesecake for dessert.
"The dinner is a great way for students to perfect their etiquette skills so they may impress potential employers," WLC President Tatum Lytle said. Eating politely with colleagues, supervisors and potential and current employers may seem a small feat, but dining decorum can sometimes make or break an offer. The event comes at an ideal time for job-searching 2Ls and 3Ls, who are deep in the interviewing process.
The Women's Law Caucus (whose membership isn't limited to women) works closely with the School's Protective Order Project and Middle Way House, focusing on issues closely related to crimes against women. WLC also serves to orient women in the School of Law with Bloomington and will sponsor a golf outing in the coming weeks. Membership dues are $15 a year.