Feature: Two Institutions, One Vision

THE DETROIT COLLEGE OF LAW AT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

With the dedication of its new building, DCL/MSU is poised to become a national leader in legal education. Calling the affiliation between Michigan State University and the Detroit College of Law 'a bold new venture' that presents 'a singular opportunity to help shape the changing face of American legal education well into the next century,' former president Gerald Ford joined more than 2,500 guests in the Great Hall of the Wharton Center for Performing Arts in April to celebrate the dedication of the law school's new $28 million state-of-the-art building.

The Detroit College of Law is the oldest continuously operated independent law school in the nation, a highly respected private institution born in the city of Detroit in 1891. It is also a new institution on the campus of a great American center of higher education, Michigan State University. Recognizing this dual heritage, Ford urged the college's faculty and students to make the most of this unique moment in its history. He applauded the 'visionary leadership' of the presidents and boards of both institutions and praised the affiliation as an innovative public/private partnership. 'It's no exaggeration to say that at Michigan State University, breaking with tradition is a tradition,' said Ford, prompting a standing ovation. 'The new law school will combine the age-old pursuit of justice with some decidedly nontraditional fields and students.'

Ford, who attended the University of Michigan and Yale Law School, received an honorary doctor of laws degree from DCL/MSU during the ceremony. It was the 84-year-old president's second visit to the MSU campus. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and House minority leader, he delivered the commencement address on March 14, 1965.

Also speaking at the event were Michigan governor John Engler, MSU president Peter McPherson, and DCL/MSU board president George N. Bashara, Jr. Joining them on the platform were MSU board president John D. Shingleton, who formally welcomed the law school to the university community; MSU and DCL/MSU trustees Dolores M. Cook, Bob Traxler, and Robert E. Weiss; MSU provost Lou Anna K. Simon; DCL/MSU dean Jeremy T. Harrison; DCL/MSU faculty representative Donald F. Campbell; and DCL/MSU student representative Jonathane Ricci. Distinguished members of the bench who were present included Conrad L. Mallet, Jr., chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court; Boyce F. Martin, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; Richard F. Suhrheinrich, associate judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; and Marianne O. Battani, judge in the Third Judicial Circuit, Wayne County.

Following the Wharton Center ceremony and accompanied by a bagpiper and drummer, DCL/MSU students and faculty led a procession to the new building, where the festivities included tours, refreshments, and the opening of a time capsule that had been placed in the cornerstone of the college's Detroit home in 1937. 'We were delighted that President Ford was able to join us for this very special day that opened a new era for Michigan State,' says McPherson, who served as a special assistant to Ford during his administration and as deputy director of presidential personnel from 1975-77. 'His presence confirmed the historical significance of the unique partnership that has been forged between the university and what will become one of the nation's finest law schools.'

A learning facility for the 21st century The Law College Building (see cover story, Winter 1995), located at the corner of Bogue Street and Shaw Lane, opened its doors in August 1997 after two years of careful planning and a construction phase that was closely observed with pride by the entire MSU community. It has already become the yardstick by which other centers for the teaching and learning of law are measured.

Work began in 1995 following approval of the affiliation agreement by the boards of both institutions. DCL/MSU sought a fully integrated building that would house the operation of the law school on the university's East Lansing campus. The resulting facility includes spacious amphitheater-style classrooms, intimate seminar rooms, and a distance learning classroom equipped with closed circuit televisions and video cameras. Internet connections are available at every seat. A showcase Moot Court, 'the jewel in the crown,' features video, audio, and computer technology as advanced as any currently in use in the nation's courtrooms. The building also contains faculty and administrative offices as well as a large conference room that boasts a dramatic view east down Shaw Lane to Hagadorn Road. The building's comprehensive library, which spreads out over two floors, already compares favorably to those at other Big Ten law schools. Here, too, detailed attention to the new technologies shaping legal research and practice has led to the deployment of flexible computer connections that augment traditional database accessibility with Internet-based learning resources.

To accommodate the natural connection between law and business and because the library of MSU's Eli Broad College of Business had outgrown its quarters in Eppley Center, the law school shares the new building with the William C. Gast Business Library, housed on the ground floor. 'Every classroom, office, and study area has been designed with one goal in mind: the collaborative, cross-disciplinary study of law in the setting of a Big Ten, land-grant university,' says Bashara.

Indeed, the building is a unique solution to the unique character of the affiliation, which has resulted in a blending of separate yet compatible traditions that will strengthen both institutions. Reminders of the school's Detroit roots are intentionally visible at every turn. Ornate Art Deco light fixtures were salvaged from the college's last Detroit home and installed above the main entrance and the fourth floor atrium, where windows in the arched roof open to the sky. The facility also incorporates eight large bas-relief sculptures that had been part of a frieze on the facade of the college's East Elizabeth Street building. These include representations of four famous law-givers (Hammurabi, Moses, Justinian, and King John) in addition to the figure that has become one of the college's official symbols, a winged female Justice who clasps a sword in her right hand and a balanced scale in her left. 'I am extremely pleased that we have been able to preserve some physical reminders of our former home in the heart of our new one,' says Bashara, who has called the college's move from Detroit painful but critical to its survival. 'The fixtures and sculptures are a bridge to our past, linking everything that has gone before to our hopeful and confident new future.'

Attracting the best and brightest

A large part of that future will depend on the quality of students that the law school can attract. In this area the affiliation has had an immediate, visible impact. 'There's no doubt that the affiliation of DCL with MSU has cast the school in a new light in the eyes of prospective students,' says Andrea Heatley, director of admissions. 'We are entering the next century as a stronger, more formidable competitor on the law school applicant's list of highly desirable schools.'

The credentials of applicants as measured by undergraduate grade-point average and score on the Law School Admission Test appear to be getting stronger with each entering class. A significant percentage of prospective students have advanced degrees.