The UDC David A. Clarke School of Law is now eligible for and, on October 15, 2001, filed a ten volume application for full American Bar Association accreditation. The application’s submission followed receipt of a very positive site evaluation report in September 2001. The next ABA site visit team will evaluate the School of Law on April 10-13, 2002. In November of 2002, the ABA Accreditation Committee will review the site evaluation report and determine whether it will recommend full accreditation to the ABA Council for a vote at its meeting in February of 2003, or whether it will seek further evaluation and update before making its recommendation to the Council later in 2003.

The standard for full accreditation requires a finding that the School of Law is in full compliance with all accreditation standards rather than the “substantial compliance” finding needed for provisional accreditation.

UDC-DCSL achieved another milestone with the issuance of a highly positive report by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education regarding the School of Law’s merger with the University. The Commission, which reaffirmed UDC’s accreditation in November 2000, required a separate review process in order for the School of Law to be considered for inclusion within the scope of the University’s accreditation. A three member Site team, chaired by Frank Mertz, President Emeritus of Fairleigh Dickenson University, visited the school June 25-27, 2001. After exhaustive review of UDC’s Periodic Review Report and School of Law officials, the team reached a number of conclusions about the School of Law, the University, and the relationship between the two:

The School of Law enhances the University through its reputation within the community as a long standing respected graduate professional school. It is highly regarded for its outreach activities and affords considerably favorable visibility for the University. The School of Law provides the University with a strong position within those institutions designated as Historically Black Colleges. It has also secured added resources without diminishing the efforts of the rest of the University to examine the quality of other programs and to consider additional specialized accreditation, i.e., AACSB.

The University strongly supports the School of Law and is eager to see it achieve complete ABA accreditation. That view is shared by the Board of Trustees, the Mayor, and the District Council. All see the well-being of the University and the School of Law as being intertwined. The team concluded that the School of Law has been fully integrated into overall University policy formulation and implementation. Nor is the School of Law viewed as a drain on the University resources. Being within the University’s governance structure makes it stronger than if it were a ‘stand alone’ entity. There is significant potential for the School of Law to initiate interdisciplinary programs within the University. Consequently, all see support of the School of Law as a value-added investment for the entire institution.

The University, including the School of Law, will be re-evaluated in 2004-05.