The new University of Memphis Law School has a big supporter in Gov. Phil Bredesen. When Bredesen meets with the state legislature next week he will be requesting $41 million for the law school project.
"Without a new law school we'll lose our accreditation," said James Smoot, dean of the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.
According to Smoot, the law school received a letter last January stating that their accreditation is at risk "due to the failure of our building to meet minimum accreditation standards."
Smoot said that the main problem with the current law school is the limited amount of space for the number of students in the program.
"This is manifested in a lack of space for the library and for student activities and organizations," he said. "We have room for maybe three or four student organizations, but others have to meet in other public spaces."
Another problem with the law building, according to Smoot, is the sightlines in the classrooms, which is the line of sight between the professor and the students. He said that these sightlines make people in the back of the classrooms barely visible.
"Those classrooms are the equivalent to a three-lane bowling alley - it's higher to the ceiling than the floor is wide," he said. "It's just an awful idea the way it was engineered."
Smoot also said that the acoustics in the building are "pretty bad," despite all the money The University has given the school for microphones and speakers to help improve the problem.
In addition to the $41 million that Bredesen is seeking, The U of M will have to raise approximately $5.3 million in private funds. These private funds will go towards paying the Postal Service currently located in the future law building.
Smoot said raising that money is their most important goal.
"We have a capital campaign committee with some very powerful people on it, so I'm very confident that it is going to happen," he said.
After that is accomplished, the law school will focus on raising money for the program, which will help them offer more scholarships and professorships.
According to Lola Potter, the spokesperson for Tennessee's department of finance and administration, the new U of M Law School has "been on priority list for many years," but now the state finally has the funds in its budget.
"We're in better financial shape than we have been in past years," she said.
Potter is hopeful that the state legislature will see the importance in this issue and see that "it's not just pork in the budget."
"When a school could possibly lose accreditation, that could have a negative impact on the school and the people that would want to go there," she said.
Potter said that the legislature usually passes the budget in May or June.
"They generally approve what the governor proposes when it comes to public universities," Potter said.
The University has until October to go before the American Bar Association to give them an up-to-date report.
"We need to have a really great report then concerning fundraising," Smoot said.
Smoot said that he is confident that the law school will be able to raise the funds needed to move into the new building.
"We've committed to our accrediting agency that we will be in that building teaching in August 2009," he said.
