Redlyne Racer
12-13-2004, 09:39 PM
For those new to the controversy, Western State University College of Law is one of the few proprietary (for-profit) law schools in the country to be accredited by the ABA. The ABA refused to grant WSU full accreditation status at the end of their provisional accreditation term, and WSU sued.
In a letter dated November 22, 2004, addressed to alumni, WSU dean Maryann Jones had this to say about the school's ABA accreditation status:
"As for the American Bar Association, we voluntarily relinquished our provisional approval as of August 7, 2004, in settlement of litigation initiated against the ABA by WSU and two of its students in U. S. District Court. Pursuant to that settlement agreement, the ABA agreed to waive the ten month waiting period for reapplication. We applied for a renewed grant of provisional approval in August of this year, and we had a site visit inspection by the ABA at the end of September. We do not yet have the report from the team, but we believe the visit was very positive. We will have a decision from the ABA by February 2005. The issues that concerned the ABA were the entrance credentials of our entering class, high attrition rate, and low bar passage. We have raised the LSAT profile of our entering class over the last two years, and have dramatically decreased the rate of academic attrition. Our bar pass rate is on a steady upward trajectory. We believe we have good reason to feel optimistic about our future."
On one hand, sometimes you need to take one step back to move two steps forward. On the other, it's a shame WSU didn't take a more aggressive stance against the haughty, arbitrary ABA socialists.
In a letter dated November 22, 2004, addressed to alumni, WSU dean Maryann Jones had this to say about the school's ABA accreditation status:
"As for the American Bar Association, we voluntarily relinquished our provisional approval as of August 7, 2004, in settlement of litigation initiated against the ABA by WSU and two of its students in U. S. District Court. Pursuant to that settlement agreement, the ABA agreed to waive the ten month waiting period for reapplication. We applied for a renewed grant of provisional approval in August of this year, and we had a site visit inspection by the ABA at the end of September. We do not yet have the report from the team, but we believe the visit was very positive. We will have a decision from the ABA by February 2005. The issues that concerned the ABA were the entrance credentials of our entering class, high attrition rate, and low bar passage. We have raised the LSAT profile of our entering class over the last two years, and have dramatically decreased the rate of academic attrition. Our bar pass rate is on a steady upward trajectory. We believe we have good reason to feel optimistic about our future."
On one hand, sometimes you need to take one step back to move two steps forward. On the other, it's a shame WSU didn't take a more aggressive stance against the haughty, arbitrary ABA socialists.