Rutgers School of Law-Camden is fined $25K and censured for accrediting violations
Rutgers School of Law-Camden has been publicly censured and fined $25,000 for violating an accrediting standard that requires law schools to use a valid and reliable admissions test to evaluate an applicant’s prospects of graduating.
The sanction was announced Wednesday in a press release by the accreditation committee of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, the designated accrediting agency for U.S. law schools.
The committee found (PDF) that Rutgers-Camden operated an admissions program without first obtaining a required variance from the section that allowed some applicants to use a standardized graduate admissions test score instead of the LSAT to be admitted.
Under the standards, law schools are required to use the LSAT or to prove to the committee’s satisfaction the validity and reliability of any alternative test.
The school subsequently qualified for a variance from the requirement, but elected to discontinue the program, the committee says.
Rutgers-Camden must post the censure document in a prominent place on its website for one year, according to the sanction. The sanction is also posted on the section’s website.
The committee also fined the school $25,000 for the benefit it received from operating the program without the required variance. That money will be used by the section to help enforce the standards.
