by Bailey Porter
Managing Editor
University officials said they will continue to push for American Bar Association accreditation for the College of Law, despite recent news that their third attempt had been unsuccessful.
While they have yet to decide their next move, University officials will continue to financially support this effort to gain provisional accreditation, ULV President Stephen Morgan said Tuesday.
“They have turned us down for preliminary approval,” Morgan said.
In October, a site evaluation team visited the law school and reported its findings to the ABA accreditation committee. Last month Morgan appeared in front of the education committee of the ABA in Baltimore with Executive Vice President Phil Hawkey, Provost Dick McDowell and Dean of the College of Law Donald Dunn.
The law school was found deficient in three of the 55 standards set up by the ABA to grant provisional approval, down from the six cited during last year’s attempt.
Low LSAT scores and bar passage rates were identified as problems for the school’s bid, as was an inadequate long-term accreditation plan.
“When it identifies the ones you know you have to work on, you can focus,” Dunn said.
This is the school’s third attempt at becoming ABA accredited. The quest was taken up in the mid 1970s, Morgan said, but it was abandoned until the law school moved to Ontario and the Board of Trustees approved the pursuit again last year.
For the past 30 years, the law school has been California Bar Association accredited.
However, ABA accreditation allows for a much broader appeal, Morgan said, in attracting more students and allowing students to take the bar exam and practice law anywhere in the United States. Currently, a ULV law graduate can only practice law in California.
“We believe that our investment in this quest for ABA is an investment in the future of the University,” Morgan said, adding that it would establish the only ABA approved law school in the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire.
McDowell said the region needs a nationally accredited law school with a commitment to recruit Southern California students.
Other private universities in the region tend to recruit nationally, he said.
“We believe that our investment in this quest for ABA is an investment in the future of the University,” Morgan said.
He added that ABA accreditation would establish the only ABA approved law school in the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire.
The evaluation from the ABA is currently being analyzed to determine the plan of action, Morgan said.
“There are so many things to look at in terms of what is best for the long run for the College of Law,” Dunn said.
The school’s options include continuing with the process as is and appearing in front of the ABA council in June with an interpretation of the three standards or ask for an abbreviated timeline before the site team’s next visit, Morgan said.
Another option, said Fred Slabach, dean of Texas Wesleyan University, is to appeal the ABA’s decision and if turned down threaten litigation.
Slabach, whose law school announced in April a $6 million expansion of their facility after gaining full ABA accreditation five years ago, said this is rarely the option chosen by law schools.
Morgan would not rule out the possibility of litigation but would like to see the school continue working within the ABA’s process.
“I would never say never. But we certainly have wanted to participate in the process as the ABA has outlined it,” he said.
Meanwhile, despite cutbacks to many of departments on the main campus, the University has already invested millions of dollars into the law school over multiple years.
A $630,000 budget has been set aside for next year to maintain the holdings and media in the law library alone.
This figure is up from $300,000 a few years back, said Avo Kechichian, ULV treasurer.
According to Morgan, the University pays $25,000 to cover the expenses of the visiting team when the school applies for accreditation.
The University has invested heavily in the law school, he said.
“We have subsidized the law school in its quest for ABA approval,” Morgan said.
“It’s a big deal,” McDowell said, “It’s a bet on the future of the region and the University.”
Currently the law school is not bringing in any surplus, Dunn said.
In 1998, the law school’s revenues and expenses left a surplus of $491,000, which the University retained, he said, but “there’s not enough revenue (now) to match expenses to move toward ABA accreditation.”
Next year, the University will contribute $3 million to the law school, he said.
However, as Slabach points out, the changes that need to be made for accreditation to occur do not have to be costly.
It could be a matter of changing academic standards or the method of instruction, Slabach said.
Morgan agrees that the three standards are addressable without any added cost.
Increasing the LSAT scores can be mended through financial aid – giving bigger awards to students with higher scores, he said, and the bar pass rate is effected in correlation with the scores.
“On the last three administrations of the bar examination, our students have actually done better than 25 percent of the ABA approved schools in California,” Morgan said. “So it’s an interesting standard they’re holding us to.”
Enrollment in the law school is 185 students and is expected to increase to 250 this fall, Dunn said.
Dunn said making revisions to the college’s plan for the future is a matter of articulating a plan incorporating the ideas from the ABA.
One of the main problems, officials find, is that the school needs high quality students and higher numbers to get accreditation but need the accreditation to attract these types of students.
“In a sense it’s a catch 22,” Morgan said.
“Generally you subsidize heavily in your quest for ABA because you can’t really charge tuition that’s competitive with ABA schools,” he said.
“Certainly the financial pressures must be taken into consideration as we look at this quest for ABA,” he said.
“We’ve made substantial progress since the last visit,” Morgan said.
A decision on the direction the school will take will be made in late May or early June, McDowell said.
“The next move is ours,” Dunn said.
