What part of AMSOL's "autonomy" and "independence" did we not understand?

As a member of the inaugural AMSOL class, NO man entered the law school in the fall of 2000 with the understanding that this was a completely separate and autonomous institution, and was not connected to anything else, particularly Ave Maria College. Our class was repeatedly told that our law school was independent of its principal donor and his other institutions.

But let's suppose I imagined all of these things -- is there any proof that the founding players were under similar impressions?

Well, of course there is. In September of 2000, this story appeared in the Notre Dame student newspaper, and quoted Professor Gerry Bradley (then and now a member of the AMSOL Board of Govnernors) at length concerning AMSOL. Turns out he had the same exact understanding of the law school as I did at the time:

It is solely a school for law students (without other undergraduate or graduate programs of study) and it is also Catholic.

With a fresh start, Ave Maria "has autonomy to be the kind of Catholic school it wants to be," said Bradley.

Because Ave Maria is not attached to a larger university, it has freedom in terms of curriculum and protecting its objectives as an institution, said Bradley. "It has a lot of independence to pursue its mission vigorously," he added.

(My emphasis added)