U. of Massachusetts’ Law-School Proposal Clears Its First Hurdle

A committee of the University of Massachusetts approved today a proposal for the system’s Dartmouth campus to acquire the Southern New England School of Law, which would give the state its first public law school, The Boston Globe reported. That approval, however, is only the first step for the controversial proposal, which critics have questioned on academic and financial grounds. The private Southern New England school, which has been unable to meet the American Bar Association’s accreditation standards, has offered to donate its campus and assets to the state. The university’s trustees approved a similar plan in 2005, but the state higher-education board rejected the deal.