Q&A: Christina Feng '08

Senior Christina Feng, interviewed by Elisabeth Ponsot ’10, discusses her pathway to studying government, her local work in the legal field, and her aspirations for the future.

Portrait by Emma Gildesgame '10

You’re from New York City, so how did you wind up here in Waterville?
I did the Maine Coast Semester, which is a semester program during high school at the Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset, Maine, and that’s where I kind of fell in love with the state of Maine. ... And then I fell in love with Colby just because of how nice everybody was.

Did you always know you wanted to study government?
Well, I was a sociology major first, and I really liked the classes I took, but I was more curious about things from a policy side.

Did any professors guide you toward the major?
Professor [G. Calvin] Mackenzie and Professor [Anthony] Corrado, who I had for Introduction to U.S. Government and Introduction to Political Theory, are basically the reasons why I’m here. … They taught me how to think critically from both a policy side and theory side and to really write effectively, which I think is the greatest gift you can receive during your time at school.

Would you say you had a favorite class?
Honestly I would say my independent study——if that counts——has been really fulfilling.

That counts. How did your independent study begin?
Well, I knew that I wanted to go into the legal field, so I actually did a job shadow with Katherine McGovern, Class of 1997, who is at Pine Tree Legal Assistance in Portland, Maine. ... I knew I wanted to get into public-interest law, and that’s exactly what she did. … She took us to court and explained the day-to-day, behind-the-scenes aspects of what she does as an attorney for them. … She told me about an internship opportunity [there], which is how it all began.

What sort of practice is Pine Tree?
They are funded partially by the government, and they are a legal aid clinic. Most Pine Tree services are limited to people whose household incomes are at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.

What were you responsible for?
I did a lot of intakes, which are when people call you with a legal problem and you take down their information. But it was really through that that I heard these people calling with questions about their mortgages or saying they are facing foreclosure… all of these different aspects of predatory lending, which really just got me thinking.

Your independent study had to do with predatory lending. How did you begin your work about lenders taking advantage of consumers, and where has it led?
I approached Professor Mackenzie and asked if I could do an independent study continuing an article that I had written for the Maine Law Review about Maine’s new Homeowner Protection Act.

Is that something you did for your internship?
Yeah, and that was really fulfilling to be published——it was my first publication.

What sort of writing did you do?
I started to write client-education materials for Pine Tree. Client-ed materials are handouts explaining your rights. … I wrote a couple of pieces. One is about surety bonds, in lieu of security deposits——because those are bad ideas for a number of reasons. [I also wrote about] online distance-learning scams, in order to warn individuals about those types of practices.

So you were doing this in the fall; have you continued your writing and research?
I’m still writing client-education pieces, but without the supervision of my faculty advisor. I’m also doing a new independent study on microlending——which is microcredit. And that’s building on my predatory lending independent study and instead focusing on a better alternative. Hopefully what will come out of this is to figure out a good way of lending to the poorest people in the United States. Microcredit has worked in Bangladesh and other areas that are not as privileged as the U.S., like South Africa.

What sort of advice can you give to consumers?
Well, I really encourage financial literacy, which is what I hope to accomplish through my pieces of client education. I think that’s where you have to start to combat predatory lending. If you don’t understand the law, if you don’t understand your rights, there’s no use in having an attorney help you; you need to understand it for yourself.

How does it feel to write something you know the public needs?
That’s been my most rewarding thing——to know that I’m producing something that people will really use. It’s been great because I have to write in a way where everyone who reads it can understand it. ... After four years in college, you kind of get into the college-level writing, so [it requires me to] step back to a sixth-grade level so that it can be understood by the general public.

So what does the future hold?
I’ve always known that I want to get into a field that really helps people. … I hope to go to law school within the next couple years, and I’d like to focus more from a public policy standpoint. I want to build the knowledge, skills and tools necessary to——as an attorney——combat predatory practices in lending areas and just make people more aware of their rights.

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