For many years, California Western has explored ways to expand our decades-long partnership with UC San Diego while strengthening our mission to educate and serve. Today we announce a significant development in this endeavor and I want you, our students, to be among the first to know.
Late Tuesday we announced that representatives of California Western and UC San Diego have formed a joint committee to consider an affiliation that would lead to the creation of a public law school in San Diego. Click here for the news release we distributed.
The proposed affiliation holds many potential benefits for our law school. Joining with UC San Diego creates new opportunities for research and collaboration while honoring our mission and values. It enhances the reputation and visibility of our faculty, alumni, and students. The proposed affiliation offers each of us the opportunity to be a part of something larger than ourselves, the chance to provide a living legacy to our region that will make a lasting difference for years to come.
I anticipate some media coverage of this development. As the news becomes public, you may hear or read about it in the workplace, online, or in social situations. I encourage you to share your questions and comments with Assistant Dean Kathleen Seibel or myself.
I also invite you to attend a students-only town hall meeting to learn more about our conversations with UC San Diego and what they might mean for you and the rest of the California Western family.
Tuesday, February 2
12:15 – 1:05 p.m.
California Western Auditorium
As we move forward in these conversations, our first commitment remains you, the California Western family. You make us who we are and we could not do this without the support of the faculty, staff, alumni, and students whose commitment and accomplishments allow us to consider this exciting proposal. I will continue to bring you updates as events unfold in this process.
Sincerely,
Dean Steven R. Smith
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I plan to attend the meeting and I'll report back with any details.
Here is where the link leads:
Media Contacts:
Judy Piercey, UC San Diego – (858) 534-6128 or jpiercey@ucsd.edu
Pam Hardy, California Western School of Law – (619) 515-1545 or phardy@cwsl.edu
Local Educational Institutions Form Joint Committee to Consider
Establishment of UC San Diego School of Law
January 26, 2010 – The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) and California
Western School of Law (California Western) this month formed a joint committee made
up of faculty and administrators from both institutions to consider an affiliation that
may lead to the establishment of a UC San Diego School of Law. It is envisioned that the
law school would be self-supporting and no state or UC San Diego campus funds would
be needed to make the new law school viable.
Formation of this committee follows initial consideration of a proposal from California
Western to UC San Diego, according to Paul Drake, UC San Diego’s Senior Vice
Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
“We believe the proposal has sufficient merit to explore the possibilities together,”
Drake said. “A UC San Diego School of Law would enhance the research, teaching and
public service mission of the university.
California Western Dean Steven R. Smith added, “The increasingly robust ties between
our two institutions, built over the past three and a half decades of dual and joint
degree programs, co-sponsored symposia and cross-institutional teaching, led us to look
at the possibility of a combination as the next logical step in our relationship. This could
create a public law school for San Diego with no start-up costs – and without creating a
new (de novo) law school, or generating more law school graduates.”
The joint committee will explore ways in which a UC San Diego School of Law might
build on existing strengths, enhance other academic disciplines and create unique
broad-based areas of exploration in law, science and technology.
In addition, the joint committee will consider the following issues with regard to the
proposed affiliation:
• Faculty – integrating and respecting existing California Western faculty and
planning for new hires;
• Students – attracting students with strong credentials;
• Finance – ensuring that the law school continues to be self-supporting as a public
institution;
• Governance – maintaining consistency with University of California, American Bar
Association, and Association of American Law Schools standards; and
• Transition – charting a smooth transformation into a UC San Diego School of Law.
“At a challenging time in the university’s history,” Drake said, “this proposed affiliation
would present an opportunity to advance the long-term vision of the University of
California system and this campus.”
Noted Smith, “The San Diego region could benefit from having a law school that helps
advance and support its most important science and technology industries, today and
tomorrow.”
If the Joint Committee determines that the proposal should advance, a planning
document will be submitted to the UC San Diego Faculty Senate and administration, and
to the California Western faculty and Board of Trustees. If these bodies endorse the
committee’s recommendation, it will then be sent to the UC Office of the President for a
final evaluation and decision. There is no firm timeline for making a determination.
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About UC San Diego
Founded in 1960, the University of California, San Diego is ranked the best value public
university in California by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine and the 7th best public
university in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Named the “hottest” institution to
study science by Newsweek, UC San Diego is one of the nation’s most accomplished research
universities, widely acknowledged for its local impact, national influence and global reach. For
more information, please visit www.ucsd.edu.
About California Western School of Law
California Western School of Law is the independent, ABA/AALS-accredited San Diego law school
that advances multi-dimensional lawyering by educating lawyers-to-be as creative problem
solvers and principled advocates who frame the practice of law as a helping, collaborative
profession. Please visit www.cwsl.edu for more information.
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I kind of laughed at "This could create a public law school for San Diego with no start-up costs – and without creating a new (de novo) law school, or generating more law school graduates.” I guess the market is saturated.
Its an exciting time to be at California Western. I kind of found it odd no public law school exists in the second largest city in California.
Well, time for homework. Tomorrow is another day.
They told us the same thing in 1982. We are still waiting.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the wait will be over soon then. This version of the merger proposal seems very promising. The only thing I could see being a direct impediment to this (other than local politics) could be a situation similar to the U-Mass SNESL failed merger. I don't think that will happen just due to the differences between the nature of Cal West and SNESL.
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