News Archive
McKinney Students Selected for National Food Law Student Leadership Summit
03/05/2020
Three IU McKinney Law students joined students from nearly 50 other law schools and two dozen nationally renowned law faculty, practitioners and expert speakers to discuss the most pressing issues in food law at the National Food Law Student Leadership Summit.
Arriana Fitts, Bethany Bielecki and Anna Powell (left) attended the summit in Fayetteville, Arkansas February 28-March 1. The summit was co-sponsored by the University of Arkansas LL.M. Program in Agricultural and Food Law and the Food Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School, with support from the National Food Law Student Network.
The summit convened “students from around the country who share a passion for creating a transparent, equitable, just, and sustainable food system,” according to organizers.
That description fits 1L Bielecki, Fitts, a 3L and 2020 J.D. candidate, and Powell, a 2L in the McKinney J.D./Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies program.
Bielecki currently works during the day in the area of food safety for Indiana Packers Corp., a pork supplier and processor, while attending law school in the evening.
In 2019, Fitts completed a summer internship at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. That experience, along with a Food and Drug Law course taught by Visiting Assistant Professor Aila Hoss and work with Fran Quigley, Clinical Professor of Law in the Health and Human Rights Clinic, convinced her that food—or lack of it—is an important issue.
“When I read the description of the summit, I felt like ‘This is me, this is something I care about,’” Fitts said. “I am really excited to go and learn more, as well as meet other people who are interested in these issues.”
Powell, who works fulltime as director of donor relations for Ivy Tech Foundation, trained as a chef—she has a culinary arts degree as well as a bachelor’s degree in philanthropic studies from the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI.
Support for those farmers is one of the many food law-related issues that interest Powell. “Unfortunately, in Indiana, there is a lack of support at the legislative level who advocate for small scale farmers,” she said.
Powell is a board member of Second Helpings, Inc., a nonprofit organization that repurposes unused food from around the city to prepare close to 3,000 meals per day for the needy—a cause that continues to inspire Powell.
