UMass to revise bid on school
(Correction: Because of an editing error, a story in Friday's City & Region section on UMass's plan to acquire a law school incorrectly reported that UMass is planning to purchase the school. Leaders of the Southern New England School of Law plan to donate the school to UMass.)
University of Massachusetts officials must quickly revamp their plan to acquire a small private law school in a last-ditch effort to meet state Board of Higher Education requests, stated in an eight-hour meeting yesterday, for greater consideration of in-state students and more details on the cost of improving the law school.
The hearing at the board's Beacon Hill headquarters marked the first public meeting between university leaders and the state board, which will decide the fate of the plan next Thursday. Board members heard several hours of sometimes heated testimony from opponents and supporters of Southern New England School of Law and quizzed UMass president Jack Wilson on details of UMass-Dartmouth's planned purchase of the school, which is not accredited by the American Bar Association. Some leaders of Boston law schools fiercely oppose the plan.
Despite a review process that included a 57-page proposal from the university, a 19-page assessment by an independent panel of out-of-state law school leaders, and a 24-page analysis by the board's own staff, Board of Higher Education chairman Stephen Tocco said yesterday that questions remain about the university's assertion that the law school can be brought up to ABA standards at no cost to taxpayers. Also, he criticized the plan to charge Massachusetts residents the same $19,000 rate as out-of-state students and requested a new blueprint with lower in-state tuition.
''Over the next week, I'd like to see better access and affordability for the kids of the Commonwealth and a detailed four-year plan for the march to accreditation and what's it going to cost," said Tocco. ''If the number is zero, I just won't believe it."
University leaders said they will study the possibility of changing the law school's tuition structure. Answers to many of the board's other questions have already been provided in written submissions, UMass-Dartmouth chancellor Jean MacCormack said, ''but it's clear to me they don't see it as clearly as I see it, and we need to work on that. There are no issues they raised that can't be addressed."
She said the estimated cost of achieving accreditation is not zero but $1.4 million, which would be used to improve buildings, boost library acquisitions, hire more faculty, and recruit more students. This cost, however, is built into the plan, which would expand enrollment from about 250 to 550 students to increase tuition revenue and avoid using state funds, she said. University leaders believe affiliation with UMass would attract more students.
Board member David Driscoll, the state's education commissioner, said he thinks that the UMass plan may be relying on ''too many optimistic assumptions that won't come to be." Board member Kathleen Kelley, president of the Massachusetts Federation of Teachers, who has been an enthusiastic supporter of the law school plan, recommended that UMass ''be more specific" about the steps it will take to win accreditation.
Other board members asked about the likelihood that the law school would draw support from private donors -- MacCormack said she has spoken with someone interested in making a major gift to name the law library -- and how much financial aid would be offered. MacCormack said annual merit-based grant aid would grow from $200,000 to $600,000.
Leaders of other law schools, who commissioned their own reports critical of the UMass plan, say that is not enough to attract top students to an unaccredited program.
The UMass plan drew support yesterday from US Representative Barney Frank, who testified that it would bring much-needed opportunity to a neglected part of the state, and from Senator John F. Kerry, who sent a letter offering his ''strongest possible endorsement" of the project.
Jenna Russell can be reached at jrussell@globe.com. 