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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Opinion

Right move for Idaho

The Spokesman-Review

Five years ago the University of Idaho College of Law adopted a statement of strategic direction explaining that its small student body and residential location would help it achieve national recognition and regional preeminence.

This week, college leaders appeal to the state Board of Education for authorization to open a branch law school campus in Boise, which many law students would prefer over the Moscow campus, according to a survey completed last year.

What’s up?

Actually, the Boise proposal, which has been in the works since at least last fall, makes sense on a variety of fronts and doesn’t necessarily call for a radical shift from the 2003 vision. Indeed, the separate campuses would retain the small-enrollment feature that officials believe enhances the educational experience – a projected 250 students at each site – but they would be assigned different areas of emphasis tailored to their respective communities.

In Moscow, that would include natural resources and environmental law, American Indian law and public lands law. In Boise, it would include intellectual property and business law.

When the Menard Law Building was built in Moscow 35 years ago, it was designed to handle an enrollment of about 250 students. Idaho’s population has doubled since then to about 1.5 million, but law school enrollment is only 297. North Idaho is also experiencing rapid growth, but the bulk of the numbers are in the Treasure Valley area, Idaho’s population hub and seat of state government.

Given the UI College of Law’s statewide mission, something has to give, and university officials figured they had three options, one of which was to just ignore all that change and cling to the outdated status quo. The others were to move the whole law school to Boise or, the favored option, to retain and modernize the facility in Moscow, where the law school administration would remain, while creating a Boise branch campus.

To pack up and move the College of Law south would have been an insult to the Moscow campus and surrounding community and an insensitive birthday present to the college, which celebrates its centennial next year. The two-campus plan offers a plausible solution that serves both tradition and progress.

If the state Board of Education gives its OK this week, the school will have to come up with a detailed business plan, including a financial blueprint for tapping public and private sources to generate up to $5 million to get the new facility up and running. That challenge is mitigated, however, by an appealing opportunity to partner with the Idaho Supreme Court on a multi-purpose Idaho Law Learning Center in Boise.

The proposal is bold, but the alternative is unsatisfactory.