WVU Law School Requests Funds for Expansion

By Harki, Gary A

MORGANTOWN – The West Virginia University College of Law is out of space.

The school is so cramped that an old storage room and a locker room in the basement have been converted into the school’s legal services office.

“We have used up every inch of space in the building,” said Joyce McConnell, associate dean of academic affairs.

The school has a request before the WVU Board of Governors to build a new addition, said John W. Fisher, dean of the College of Law. The request is part of WVU’s 10-year capital improvement plan up for vote by the board, he said.

Very preliminary estimates put the cost of the expansion at $12 million, but plans for the new facility, and whether or not it will be attached to the existing building, have yet to be determined, Fisher said.

Parts of the law school now integral to the institution, such as the Career Service Office, were not there when the building was designed in the late 1960s, he said. The building opened in 1974.

“The way courses are taught and how students apply the knowledge has changed,” Fisher said. “Clinical programs, career services, the continuing legal education program, they were not a part of legal education when the building was planned.”

Architects are analyzing the facility to see how to best construct the new portion of the law school, Fisher said.

Law school classes have moved away from large, generalized classes to smaller, more specialized classes, McConnell said. The school has two large, two medium and four small classrooms, she said. The addition of six small classrooms and three large or medium classrooms is needed, she said.

“We do have slightly more students than before, but the big thing is that 30 years ago they would think nothing of teaching all the students together in one room. The way in which legal education is taught has changed,” she said.

The small number of classrooms means there is a lot of juggling to fit all the classes in, she said.

“Some classes get pushed later in the day, some classes come in while another goes out simultaneously because I can’t give enough space in between,” McConnell said.

The two wings that comprise the classroom portion of the Law School will have renovations and asbestos abatement in 2007, Fisher said.

The renovations will not affect classes because they will be done in the summer, and the rest of the building will be renovated once the new portion of the law school is built, he said.

When construction on the new portion of the school will begin is not known because planning is in the very early stages, he said.

Funding for the project will come from three sources, Fisher said. Money from the next WVU bond issue, part of the 10-year plan currently before the Board of Governors, along with fees from students enrolled in law school and private donations will go to the project, he said.

“Since the 1960s the importance of alumni influence and development has grown. We are very much in need of private funds to carry out the mission,” Fisher said.

The WVU College of Law is also looking at ways to improve its national ranking, McConnell said. U.S. News and World Report ranked the school in the fourth tier in its 2006 annual rankings.

“Our ultimate goal is to be the best law school we can be,” McConnell said. “We are one of best public law schools in the country. It’s a matter of being able to do what rankings measure. We have an excellent job placement rate. … I can tell you this is one of the hardest working faculties I have ever worked with. They are so accessible to the students.”

Part of what will help the school improve in the rankings is building a larger facility with more classrooms, she said.

Copyright State Journal Corporation Jan 26, 2007

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