Law students focus on Food Day

A delegation of US law students will leave torts and casebooks behind this weekend to take up what many consider the world's chief injustice - the problem of hunger - Monitor contributor Cynthia Marquand reports.

A ''Conference on Hunger and Justice'' will be sponsored by the student bar associations of American, Antioch, Catholic, Georgetown, Howard, and George Washington Universities. More than 50 other US law schools are cosponsors of the gathering, being held on Saturday, World Food Day.

The conference will focus on the so-called right to food, as stated by such documents as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948. The students' goal is to probe the role lawyers might play in better establishing rights to food.

Other observances this year will include:

* A special UN session on world hunger next Monday.

* Proclamations by President Reagan, Congress, and state governors in support of World Food Day.

* Two major political forums in New York and Los Angeles for congressional candidates to express their views on national and international food problems. Lesser political forums will be held in other cities.

* Local events such as fasts, walks for hunger, agricultural fairs, food drives, and other relief efforts.

* Seminars, writing and gardening contests, field trips, and special projects held around the world to inform students on hunger issues - one example of which is a week-long education project in New York City high schools followed by a mock session at the United Nations.

IMPACT, a nonprofit hunger education organization, provided the curriculum for the program.