July 17, 2001

Arkansas Bar Association to
present check to ASU Foundation

Jonesboro attorney Dustin McDaniel, representing the Arkansas Bar Association and the Executive Council of the Young Lawyers section of the association, presented a check for $500 today to the Arkansas State University Foundation in recognition of work performed by Dr. Robert Baum, chair and professor in the Department of Languages in the College of Arts and Sciences.

McDaniel has served as chair of two projects recently, the re-writing of the Arkansas Bar Association’s Consumer Law Handbook and the Spanish Version of the Handbook.

Along with the check for the Foundation, McDaniel presented Baum with a plaque. The first group of Spanish consumer handbooks for distribution will be presented to Father James Dixon, S.J., who is co-director of the Catholic Hispanic Center in Jonesboro with Sister Elaine Willett, O.S.B., of the Holy Angels Convent.

"We realized that our Hispanic population is the largest and fastest growing demographic group in Arkansas, and often this group of people feels disenfranchised or not protected by our law or government," McDaniel said. "Often, socioeconomically, they do not have the money to hire lawyers. This handbook will provide this group of people who are under-represented in our economy and society an idea of what their rights are."

Once planning for the special edition of the book began, McDaniel realized the daunting task of having someone translate the English version to Spanish would be a difficult one to tackle.

"I had to figure out a way to make this happen, and finally decided to find someone in the Department of Languages at ASU," McDaniel added.

Upon speaking to Baum, McDaniel knew he had found his solution. Baum was impressed and excited about the project, knowing the need it would meet in Arkansas, according to McDaniel.

Baum, who joined the faculty at ASU in 1993 and became chair of the department in 1998, said he has done a number of translations.

"I enjoy doing translations, and once I saw the scope of the project I realized just how important it really was and so I chose to complete the translation myself," Baum said. "It seemed clear to me that cooperation of this sort would benefit both the community and the university."

McDaniel added that he was pleased with the cooperative effort between ASU and the Bar Association.

"ASU is such a leader in the Delta, and this is just a great service that the university and the Bar Association could perform together," McDaniel said.

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