Law Schools
Florida A&M Law Breathes Sigh of Relief, Gets ABA Accreditation
Posted Jul 10, 2009 12:44 PM CST
By Julie Kay
Florida A&M University’s law school, plagued with patches of problems since it reopened in 2002, has won a key recommendation from an ABA committee that it receive full accreditation.
ABA spokeswoman Nancy Slonim confirmed Thursday the ABA’s committee on accreditation is recommending the Orlando-based FAMU College of Law receive full accreditation. FAMU, the state’s only black college, currently has provisional accreditation. The state school has to obtain full accreditation by August 2009 or risk starting the lengthy accreditation process from scratch.
The ABA committee decided to recommend approval following a presentation made by law school dean LeRoy Pernell two weeks ago in Canada and a site visit at the school earlier this year.
“I feel very good about this,” Pernell says. “We won’t issue a formal statement until we get the official letter from the committee, however.”
The final step in the long accreditation process occurs in late July when the ABA’s Council on Legal Education Opportunity meets and may vote on the matter at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. Though approval is not required, it is expected.
Since it reopened seven years ago, the law school has faced a low Florida Bar exam passage rate for first-time test takers, an internal investigation involving the registrar’s office, public scandal over a lawyer’s $1 million donation to establish a chair for which the lawyer would be paid without working for FAMU, lack of a permanent dean and reports of poor morale among faculty and students.
The school has been repeatedly honored as having one of the most diverse student bodies on the nation.
Pernell was hired in January 2008 to revamp the program. He hired about a dozen new and experienced faculty members, cleaned up the registrar’s office and launched a new international law center last year.
“We are going to keep making improvements,” Pernell vows.
Also see:
Orlando Sentinel: "FAMU law soon may get fully accredited"
ABAJournal.com (2008): "‘Steep Mountain’ for FAMU to Climb to Full Accreditation, ABA Report Says"
- How B of A’s GC Got Fired: Leave Now, and Leave Your BlackBerry Behind
- Schools Ranked by 'Super Lawyers' Produced
- Law Firm Price Wars Break Out as Some Try ‘Loss Leader’ Bids for Work
- Five Questions for Law Firms Abandoning Lockstep Compensation
- Judge Jails 2 Attorneys for Contempt in 4 Days
- Reed Smith Will Ask Nonequity Partners to Pony Up Possibly 15% of Pay
- Court Deputy Ordered to Apologize or Face Jail After Taking Lawyer's Paperwork
- Skadden Jumps on the Bonus Bandwagon
- ABA Executive Director Resigns
- Nasty Attitude to Co-Worker, Naughty Word in E-Mail Cost 2 Their Jobs
Should Supreme Court Justices Be Able to Review News Accounts Before Publication?
Comments
J.D.
Jul 10, 2009 1:46 PM CST
Comment removed by moderator.
Flag this comment
ASUAlumn
Jul 10, 2009 1:50 PM CST
“The school has been repeatedly honored as having one of the most diverse student bodies on the nation.” Hum… How is that a racial separatist school?
Flag this comment
B. McLeod
Jul 10, 2009 2:26 PM CST
From FAMU Mission Statement:
“While the University continues its historic mission of educating African Americans, persons of all races, ethnic origins and nationalities are welcomed and encouraged to remain life-long members of the university community. The University, through its diverse faculty and staff, provides a caring, nurturing, collegial and respectful environment.”
I think J.D. is the “racial separatist.” (A pretty poor fact-checker, too).
Flag this comment
it factor
Jul 10, 2009 3:31 PM CST
racism is OK if it is against the majority—how else is the rich investor and business owner going to lower wages by dividing the workforce and bringing in cheap labor scabs from the third world?
Won’t someone please think of the rich investors?
Flag this comment
Thurgood
Jul 10, 2009 7:45 PM CST
A racial separatist school where African Americans are in the minority. Inaccurate statements made by an individual not grounded in the law or reality.
FAMU COL Class of 2008
Flag this comment
J.D.
Jul 11, 2009 11:40 AM CST
#5 is clearly ignorant: blacks make up the largest population at FAMU law at 45% of the population.
Also interesting, every image of a student and faculty for FAMU is of THE SAME RACE. This means “not diverse.”
And finally, according to the law school’s own numbers, blacks are overrepresented, whites are underrepresented, asians are underrepresented, and hispanics are underrepresented.
And #2, the liberals who rank “diversity” think that a school can be made of one race and have a lot of diversity. It’s insane and illogical, and a complete repudiation of the English language, but that’s the way liberals think.
Flag this comment
ASUAlumn
Jul 11, 2009 1:51 PM CST
So are schools where whites make up the majority of the student body and faculty racial separatist school?
Flag this comment
Thurgood
Jul 11, 2009 8:48 PM CST
I guess J.D. would know the facts and is the ultimate arbiter of who’s ignorant since he like me attended the school and saw the actual racial breakdown. Ignorance is throwing around labels like “liberals” to bolster pointless arguments and creating character attacking and emotionally based responses.. I don’t think JD went to law school at all. If he did he didn’t learn anything about the fallacies of slippery slope and ad hominem arguments. An intro. to legal reasoning course would serve that young man well.
Flag this comment
B. McLeod
Jul 11, 2009 10:14 PM CST
I think J.D. hails from the California educational system. A four-year stretch in a U.S. Army rifle squad would serve that young man well. (I keep suggesting, but his patriotic fervor to beat down the Jihadists seems limited to rhetoric).
Flag this comment
HBCU
Jul 13, 2009 8:52 AM CST
FAMU is a historically Black university. The reason for its existence is the fact that, at the time of its inception, Blacks were not allowed to attend majority institutions. Therefore, it is interesting to suggest that FAMU or any HBCU is a separatist institution, since they were created by Whites to keep Blacks separate. Today, FAMU and other HBCU’s have evolved, and take pride in the strides they’ve made, despite the segregationist past that necessitated them.. And they are necessary now to provide an environment where today’s Black students can embrace their history drive success towards the future.
Flag this comment
J.D.
Jul 13, 2009 9:49 AM CST
Interesting, 10. You argue that past segregation is bad, but that segregated schools are “necessary now.”
I guess my desire to not have schools based on race is too progressive for some liberals. And yes, McLeod, I did go to school in California. And guess what? The libs who run that institution actively promote racially-segregated dorms. We have a “Chicano dorm,” a “black dorm,” an “Asian dorm” and, by default, a bunch of predominantly white dorms.
Liberals are continuously supporting racism and racial separatism. Anyone who thinks that is health has much in common with those running the slave trade 200 years ago.
Flag this comment
Useless JD Comments
Jul 13, 2009 4:58 PM CST
I think we all know JD is posting from a alternate universe, but here we go again…
BY JD’s #1 post “The fact that the ABA would recognize a racial separatist school is troubling.” I call for immediately “discreditation” of all racial separaist schools where any race is a majority (or white is the majoriity). Wait! that will mean every freaking law school.
Okay, let’s start with JD’s California school first (but I guess JD did not graduate from a law school, or a collegel, or .... )
Flag this comment
B. McLeod
Jul 14, 2009 11:31 AM CST
J.D., I understand how urgently you want to escape that environment, and I can tell you that you will find the U.S. Army Infantry is fully integrated. Broaden your horizons. See the world. Be all that you can be. If your righteous struggle against segregation has made you strong, now, you can be Army strong!
Flag this comment
Add a Comment
We welcome your comments, but please adhere to our comment policy.
Commenting has expired on this post.