Yesterday, the Board of Higher Education approved a plan for UMass Dartmouth to accept the assets of Southern New England School of Law as a gift, and to thereby operate a public law school in Massachusetts.
I think this plan is a mistake at this time.
When you listen to proponents of the plan, it sounds like a great idea. After all, how could the state turn down a gift like this one, one that involves an entire private law school? Having a public law school would create additional affordable education opportunities for Massachusetts residents. It also would increase our stock of public interest lawyers and it would improve the diversity of our legal community.
So why would we say “no?”
Well, the problem lies in the fact that Southern New England School of Law is not accredited by the American Bar Association. That limits what its students can do after graduation and thereby makes it a less competitive option than other accredited law schools.
The main reason Southern New England School of Law is not accredited in the first place is because it lacks the financial capacity to invest in itself and to make improvements needed to be accepted, things like adding to its law library collection. That’s why it offered itself to the state – the state has public funds to invest in the school that aren’t available to the private institution. Under the Board of Higher Education’s decision yesterday, that responsibility now lies with the state.
These are taxpayer dollars we’re talking about. I say that now is not the time for our state to put investing in a public law school at the head of our education priority list. UMass has already been forced to make cutbacks in its regular course offerings because of budget cuts. Why put more responsibility on its plate when it can’t meet its existing obligations? And why should we invest in ideas like this one when we have other education responsibilities we can’t meet, like funding Chapter 70 for cities and towns and improving under-performing school districts?
If you ask me, this is a bad idea for our state right now. But, now I’m asking you. What do you think? Is the Board of Higher Education’s vote a good one, or will this “gift” end up costing our state too much money? Please post a comment and let’s get a discussion going.
