Scroll down to the bottom for an update to this story. Bad news keeps on following law schools. Every day there seems to be an update spreading more doom and gloom for those in legal education. Now there is another school signaling trouble ahead.
Brian Leiter got a scoop about financial issues at Pace Law School — though there aren’t a ton of details available, one definitely gets the sense it isn’t good.
According to a faculty member, the Law School ran nearly a five million dollar deficit this year, and the Dean has pledged to cut $2.1 million of that next year, with a combination of moves: the elimination of all sabbaticals, all research stipends, a 5% salary cut for senior staff, and a 10% salary cut for all faculty.
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Leiter also reports that the Pace powers-that-be are attempting to intimidate insiders from going to the media with reports of money problems.
To make matters worse, the Dean, according to one source, “forbade anyone from speaking to the press about this. The materials he passed out carried two watermarks, one large across the text, and another secret one (or so he said), with each faculty member’s name so he will know who the leak is, he said.”
Individualized watermarks? That sounds expensive for a school with financial problems.
Whether these cuts are a harbinger of worse cuts for the law school remains to be seen, but given the trends we are seeing in legal education the long term outlook seems cloudy at best.
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Update 5/15/15 12:33pm: Leiter has an update to his post from Pace professor Alexander Greenawalt, who has a distinctly more benevolent take.
I have not polled my peers but I believe that most of my colleagues would agree that there are serious inaccuracies in the report you received. Of course I’m not thrilled to have my salary cut, but the truth is that we are part of a university that is continuing to support us, and I still have a great job at a great law school. The main thrust of the dean’s remarks was that he is implementing budget cuts that will reduce our deficit without compromising the quality of the education we provide our students. On that score, I believe he succeeded. We are not the first law school to experience a faculty salary cut, and I don’t think this is a sign that we are a sinking ship.
The source still stands by his report, and it seems how bad the news is comes down to a matter of perception.
Another sign of the times: financial crisis at Pace Law School [Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports]
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Another Law School In Trouble?