University of Texas School of Law - Peregrinus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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TOP CENTER: A member of Outlaw pins an awareness ribbon on a fellow law student. TOP RIGHT: Runners brave the cold for Race Judicatta. ABOVE CENTER: Two students get to know each other duhng the Mentor Reception. ABOVE RIGHT: Counselor Donna Davis discusses the J word with first-year Justin Conner during a walk-in session in the atrium. LEFT: ABC newsman John Stossel addresses a crowd in September. Around Townes

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m. TOP LEFT: William Whitehurst, a 1970 graduate of UT Law, speaks to the entering class of freshlaws about public interest law in August. ABOVE LEFT; Students mingle at tfie Mentor Reception sponsored by ttie Career Services Office. BOTTOM CENTER: Students mingle with representatives from law firms at a spring reception. 10 S Around Townes

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Whodunnit? For a century, law and engineering students have traded insults and schemed to capture the other group ' s mascot. After more than a decade of relative harmony, the mascot controversy flared up in the summer of 2 002. Perry had been displayed on and off in the law library until the theft. After its return, the statue was tucked away in a safe, secret corner of the law school. The statue was created by a prominent Swiss woodcarver named Peter Mansbendel who did lots of carvings at the University. The Institute of Texan Cultures featured the Peregrinus in an exhibit devoted to Mansbendel in the 1970s. The rivalry between engineering and law .students began at the turn of the 20th century when there were only three classes on campus: the laws, the engineers and the academs. The two groups traded insults and snatched each others ' mascots throughout the century. Things seemed peaceful at the turn of the 21st century, but the rivalry flared up once again with the mysterious disappearance of both statues. Unknown culprits stole Alec late in summer 2002. A few weeks later, the Peregrinus on display in a locked case in the law library reserve room disappeared. One Monday morning when we opened the library, we discovered that the statue was missing, law librarian Mike Widener said. He called UTPD and looked for evi- dence. It appeared that a door might have been propped open - a door to the fire escape - and it wasn ' t clear whether that had been done by a construction crew that was actu.dly working during that period the thief, Widener said. UTPD conducted an investigation, but nothmg turned up. Then fliers bearing a picture o( the Peregrinus appeared, first at the engineering school, then also at the law school. Unexpectedly one day I got a call from Dean Powers ' office, who said that they had just received a call from the engineering dean ' s office that they were bringing the statue over, Widener said. Staff from the engineering dean ' s office and Dean Powers ' office brought it to the library in a large cardboard box full of fliers and covered in an old plastic trash bag. No one ever admitted to the theft, but Dean Powers suspected that the dean of engineering negotiated a safe haven until the statue could be returned to the law school. We do consider it a crime to come in and steal our Peregrinus, Powers said. But 1 think bygones are bygones.