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Sophie Crispin

Sophie Crispin is the recipient of the Stearns-Shaw Scholarship, a financial aid opportunity available to full-time University of Wisconsin Law School students.

The Law School awards the scholarship annually to a student who has a demonstrated record of working toward equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, and who is likely to use a legal education to further this pursuit.

Crispin comes to law school from Ohio Wesleyan University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in women’s and gender studies. As an intern at the school’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer/Questioning Resource Center, also called the Spectrum Resource Center, she helped organize National Coming Out Days and pride weeks, booked speakers, and coordinated the campus Safe Zone program for GLBT students.

By her senior year, she was working with the campus residence life office to propose an inclusive all-gender housing policy, an accomplishment she’s particularly proud of. The policy gives students who identify as transgender the option to specify the preferred gender of their roommate.

“Most people don’t realize the difficulties transgender people face, or even what it means to be trans,” she says. “At an all-residential school like Ohio Wesleyan, it’s especially important that the housing be just as comfortable as the classrooms. That’s a tangible sign of an inclusive campus, that you’re thinking about the well-being of the trans population.”

Crispin always knew she wanted to pursue public interest law, but without financial support, she figured she might have to postpone law school. Thanks to the scholarship, she was able to start at UW Law this fall, after graduating from Ohio Wesleyan last spring.

She hopes to learn more about immigration law, especially as it treats immigrants who identify within the GLBT community. And she has already joined the executive board of QLaw, the student organization serving the LGBTQ community.

Hoping to stay in the Midwest, Crispin sought a law program that felt close-knit and collegial, with the network and resources that a larger campus has to offer. She says UW Law filled the bill.

“Community is really important to me because I came from such a small school. When I visited UW, it felt like a place where I could retain that closeness with my peers. There was a sense of community here, where I knew I’d fit in,” she says.

The Stearns-Shaw Scholarship is made possible through the generosity of Denis Stearns, a 1992 Law School graduate. He established an endowed fund to honor his husband, Thomas Shaw, and his late mother, Julie Stearns, with the intent of enhancing the Law School’s impact and profile as an institution strongly supportive of the GLBT community. In addition to the scholarship, Stearns’ gift provides for two more financial aid opportunities for Law School students: the Julie Stearns Memorial Award and the QLaw Book Scholarship.

“When generous benefactors like Mr. Stearns want to contribute to students they’ve never met, either because they’re so passionate about their work or because they loved their law school experience so much,that’s really powerful,” says Crispin.

For more information about the Stearns-Shaw Scholarship and other financial aid opportunities at UW Law School, contact Danielle Wampole, director of scholarship administration and recruitment.

Submitted by Tammy Kempfert on December 8, 2016

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