Spokane7
38°
When the University of Idaho decided to develop a livestock
research center, it never considered building it on the campus in
Moscow. That would be silly. According to the 2007 Census of
Agriculture, there were fewer than 1,000 milk cows in the 10
counties of the Idaho Panhandle. In 2009, there were 286,700 dairy
cattle in Gooding, Jerome and Twin Falls counties alone. So now that the university’s third-year law program in Boise is
up and running — classes started this week — why not gradually
transition the whole law school from Moscow to the state
capital? Ada and Canyon counties are home of more than half of the
practicing attorneys in Idaho — a large percentage of them
graduates of the U of I law school. The demand for a southern Idaho
law school is obvious/Twin Falls Times-News. More here.
Question: Do you think the University of Idaho Law School should be moved to Boise, where most of the state’s lawyers are, or remain in Moscow?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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eclafitz on September 08 at 9:43 a.m.
It was my understanding that when Boise stole the capital from Lewiston back in the late 1800s that the University of Idaho was to become the state’s land grant institution as a sort of recompense, and to that end I think that the law school should remain in Moscow.
Wes on September 08 at 10:10 a.m.
Remain in Moscow.
idawa on September 08 at 10:50 a.m.
I’m somewhat torn on the issue. As eclafitz points out, the UI and her programs are special in Idaho because of their Constitutional status. It was an explicit trade-off, to entice N. Idaho to join the state, the southern delegates explicitly made N. Idaho the education center of the future state of Idaho. Were it not for the U of I, Cd’A and other parts north would be part of Washington, Montana, or some other unformed state. Are we to abandon that pact now that it is longer needed, do modern exigences change Constitutional motives?
On the other hand, the law school makes more sense in Boise for the reasons this article aptly cites. I guess this brings up an broader philosophical discussion, how long to we hold onto Constitutional ideals when faced with modern circumstances?
Sisyphus on September 08 at 11:10 a.m.
Washington was already formed and Montana was in the process. In fact, Washington, more specifically the good people of Olympia, were responsible for drawing the line excluding the commie pinko miners in what is now north Idaho. The worst they could do was create their own state and were pacified by the land grant university in Moscow.
It was nearly impossible to get practical experience in a courtroom in north Idaho while going to law school. In addition to the academic environment, learning the practice of law is still very much a mentoring process. There might be two dozen lawyers in Moscow and fewer still who could take on a student.
BobEly on September 08 at 11:17 a.m.
The whole higher education system in Idaho makes little sense. For instance, why is LC State a four year school? Why isn’t there a community college in the Boise area? OK, so Boise State is close to a community college, but…
It’s my opinion that the conservative legislators do not want a particularly educated electorate. It makes their job, and re-election, easier.