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UPDATE 5 p.m.: State board approves amended law school plan
August 21, 2008, 4:02 pm
The third year of legal education will be offered in Boise beginning in July 2009, pending approval from the state Legislature of a $1 million appropriation request, said Mark Browning, spokesman for the board.
The board debated the plan for nearly 3 hours, Browning said, after a presentation to the board by Don Burnett, dean of the College of Law.
The plan detailed the UI’s proposal to split legal education between the Moscow campus and a branch campus in Boise. The additional campus would start small, with a first-year class of about 30 students in 2010, and would eventually grow to support 250 students.
Browning said there was some question from the board as to whether the numbers projected by the UI were solid. He said the UI was instructed to revisit their calculations for the demand for legal education services. The university also needs to make sure there’s enough support for the proposal by the people who would allocate the money, Browning said.
If the board eventually approves a three-year campus in Boise, the state legislature is in charge of appropriating funds, which would also have to be approved by the governor.
Browning said the feeling of the board is that the time is not right to make a big leap, but that they want to start taking smaller steps down that same path.
“They were very clear in saying, 'We don’t want this to go away. We see this as a strategic move. You need a presence (in Boise). We need you to have a presence there,’ ” Browning said.
The motion was approved 6 to 2, with Paul Agidius of Moscow, and Blake Hall of Idaho Falls dissenting.
UI President Steven Daley-Laursen released a statement saying the university is grateful for the board’s support of the UI’s statewide mission to provide legal education in Idaho.
“We now have a framework for enhancing access to, and meeting increasing demand for, affordable, high-quality legal education throughout Idaho,” he stated.
For more on this developing story, see Friday's Daily News or check DNews.com.
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