Surfing the Web about a year and a half ago, MSU-DCL College of Law student Emily Shipley found something that caught her eye.

On a Texas law college Web site, she discovered a student publication completely devoted to discussing gender issues. Checking other school's sites, she discovered many of them also had publications addressing gender issues.

At that point, Shipley decided MSU-DCL should have one too.

"Gender incorporates every person, every day," Shipley said.

Shipley and fellow law student Katherine Vollman began working in fall 2002 to create a journal for MSU-DCL that would encompass legal issues regarding women as well as sexual orientation. "The State of the Gender: A Contemporary View on Business and Politics" was completed and released on the MSU-DCL Web site on Nov. 21.

Vollman said, by opening a forum discussing gender issues, particularly ones that women face in the legal world, ideals and understanding about gender would someday change.

"A lot of time, the law is still taught toward males," she said. "When going to the Supreme Court, women should wear skirts and men should wear pants.

"They still teach that. It amazes me."

During the time the students were working on the journal, they also expressed interest in bringing back a Law and Gender class for the college. The course had been taught in past years but was reintroduced in the fall.

The journal, which included two essays focusing on women in business, spurred the creation of an MSU-DCL Women's Legal Forum & Gender Review Board, which will create future journals.

MSU-DCL assistant Professor Melanie Jacobs, who taught the Law and Gender class last semester, said interest in the subject was high and that the students should be proud of their work.

"That type of dialogue is important," Jacobs said. "These are important issues regarding males and females as well as sexual orientation that are still not resolved.

"It was a labor of love on their part, and they deserve a lot of credit."

For more information on the gender forum, log on to http://www.law.msu.edu/students/forum/