Academic

It's that time of year again.  Cherry blossoms are blooming, dogwoods are leafing out, and the US News & World Report rankings are out.  There's also been quite a lot of rumbling over ABA accreditation standards for US Law schools.  While possible changes in tenure policy has gotten the lion's share of the attention, Paul Caron reproduces a letter from Dean Donald J. Polden (Santa Clara), Chair of the Standards Review Committee, which focuses attention on

b.  A new rule that would provide for the public disclosure of accreditation findings for individual law schools;

c.  Relaxing the current standard that requires that schools must require every applicant to have a score on a valid and reliable entrance examination (practically speaking, the LSAT);

d.  Removing the current requirements that prescribe particular types of contracts (in terms of duration, participation rights, etc.) that must be given to faculty members who don't have tenure, while strengthening law schools' obligations to protect the academic freedom of all full time faculty members.  A related edit would relax the current requirement that the university or governing body must provide the dean with tenure as a member of his or her faculty;

e.  Reconsidering current standards that require schools to have class attendance policies, limit students from taking a internship at which they would be paid, and substantially limit credit hours that can be earned by students through distance education courses;

Our Masters will reflect on these topics next week in a forum.  Happy spring!