Dean to AMSOL community: Incoming class assured of graduating in Michigan
Good news, but this administration should never have put prospective students in a situation where they had to apply and put down a deposit for a school that couldn't guarantee that it could graduate them at its present location.
5/10/2006
This week I received an update on the construction schedule for the Ave Maria campus in Collier County, Florida. This update arrives some weeks earlier than expected. While AMU still plans to open at the new campus in August 2007, in light of the newly revised construction schedule, it now is apparent that a potential move to Florida by the law school cannot feasibly occur anytime before the fall of 2009 at the earliest. This news allows me to give full assurance to our incoming students that they will be able to graduate from the School of Law in Ann Arbor come May 2009.
As previously communicated, the question relating to the timing of a potential move to Florida is distinct from the question of whether a move to Florida is in the best long-term interests of the law school. This second question will be thoughtfully and carefully examined by the Board of Governors at future meetings based on the feasibility study currently being conducted by our two consultants, Deans White and Read. The consultants will complete and submit the feasibility study as originally planned.
I realize that the issue of a potential move to Florida has prompted great emotion and concern from many members in our community, oftentimes straining relationships that have been built up over these last six years. Your continued prayers for wisdom when the Board considers a potential move would be appreciated.
Sincerely yours,
Bernard Dobranski
President and Dean
4 Comments:
I have been offered a seat in the class of 2009. Knowing I would be able to graduate without transferring or relocating relieves some anxiety. But it still gives no assurances about whether the degree I will receive by then will be worth the paper it's printed on when I try to shop it around to potential employers. ("Hmm, are they a fully accredited school?" "Well, uh, they USED to be...")
I have 6 days to put down my seat deposit. I still haven't decided yet if I will.
"Man, I don't know what to tell you. I'm one of the original graduates and loved my time there, but I have no way of assuring you that the school you'll attend will resemble the one I did by the time you get out. I wish you the best either way."
Well, it looks like I'm going to have to lay down that deposit unless I hear back within two days from one of the two schools still considering me. Make no mistake though -- if either of those two schools accepts me later, I will walk away from that deposit and from AMSOL. (Perhaps just as well for AMSOL, seeing how I'm one of the "bottom-feeder" admitted applicants whose GPA and LSAT scores would not exactly contribute to the efforts to bring AMSOL's median up to top-tier levels.) If I am not accepted to any other school for the fall term, there is an excellent chance I will attend AMSOL for one year only and then transfer the hell out. I'll probably do this even if the board miraculously and unexpectedly votes to stay in Ann Arbor, as it appears the damage already done to the institution is deep and likely long-term. I doubt anything short of a cleansing of the BoG would cause me to complete my studies at AMSOL.
Just the sort of coherent, well-crafted and persuasive rebuttal I've come to expect from IO after reading through the comments section around here.
I can't help but notice that nobody from either side of the debate has made a serious effort to persuade me to attend school at AMSOL-- not even one of the deans with which I have been having a frustrating e-mail dialog replete with vague, evasive responses to my questions.
So dreadfully sorry if my contingency plans and the rationale behind them don't meet with your approval, IO. But as I noted earlier, AMSOL's aim to attain prestige and improve its US News rank certainly won't be any worse off for my not being there.
I got into another school, so I'm going to have to wave goodbye to AMSOL. I will continue to watch the developments and pray that AMSOL comes out the other side intact and still able to pursue its mission to become a top law school.
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