Two schools to share courses
June 29, 2012
By Jerry Crimmins
Law Bulletin staff writer
Twitter: @JerryCrimmins
Two Chicago law schools have decided to let their students cross over and take courses at each other’s school in an experimental program. This form of collaboration could be the first of its kind in the nation, said officials of both IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law and Loyola University Chicago School of Law. “I raised the issue years ago about sharing our summer programs together to Dave. It never got traction, but it morphed into this idea,” said Harold J. Krent, dean of IIT Chicago-Kent. “Dave” is David N. Yellen, dean of Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
Each school made available for the fall semester 10 courses that students from the other school may enroll in and get credit for. “Even though we are competitors, we are looking for ways to cooperate for the benefit of our students,” Yellen said. “No school can offer all the specialized courses that its students may want to take. By cooperating in this manner, we may be able to expand curriculum offerings while taking steps to control costs.” “I think the market signal is relatively clear that we need to think of ways to hold down costs and ensure the same, if not more, opportunities for students,” Krent said. “One of the ways we can do that is work together as schools.”
Applicants to law school have declined about 25 percent in the last two years, data from the Law School Admission Council shows. A shrunken employment market for new law school graduates as well as the high cost of law school are persistent topics in the news media. Nine students from each school “have expressed provisional interest in availing themselves of the opportunity” so far, Krent said.
Students are just finding out about it, said Katy Martinez, 24, from Dayton, Ohio, who will be a second year student at IIT Chicago-Kent in the fall. “Dean Sowle sent an e-mail this week,” she said. She referred to Stephen D. Sowle, assistant dean for academic administration and student affairs at IIT Chicago-Kent. Martinez said she decided to take “Comparative Issues in Law and Religion” at Loyola. The schedules for her required courses at IIT Chicago-Kent next semester made it difficult for her to enroll in elective courses she was interested in, she said. She signed up for a few courses she wasn’t really interested in “just to fill my hours.” Because she is drawn to the comparative religion course at Loyola, she will drop one course at IIT Chicago-Kent. She said she has an interest in immigration law and conflict of religions is an issue in some immigration asylum cases.
“Our students deserve as much choice as we can give them,” said Michael J. Kaufman, associate dean for academic affairs at Loyola law. “Dean Yellen and Dean Krent led the way.” Kaufman and Sowle worked out the details, Kaufman said. In addition to each school offering 10 classes to the other, the requirements they decided on were:
First, there must be space available in each course offered to the students from the other school.
Each school’s students get the first opportunities to enroll at their own school in a shared course.
An anonymous grading system will not be used for students from the other school.
A shared course will not be graded on the curve.
In some law school courses, student identities on tests are hidden from the teacher by anonymous numbers. This is made possible by each school’s computer system, Krent said. “There’s no way to maintain confidentiality” for students from other schools, Kaufman said. Anonymity is not universal in law school courses. There are many courses where a student’s work is based on open performance, such as trial advocacy or negotiation, Kaufman said, or classes that emphasize writing and rewriting of motions and briefs. Beyond the above requirements, “Steve Sowle and I chose classes that we thought would really enhance the curriculum of either school,” Kaufman said.
IIT Chicago-Kent, for example, is offering “Critical Legal Studies” as a shared course in the fall. Loyola’s course on “Critical Legal Studies” is not available this fall, Kaufman said. IIT Chicago-Kent is also making available this fall to Loyola students, as some other examples, “Advanced Tax Transactions”; “Alternative Dispute Resolution”; “Business Entity Formation”; and “Domestic Violence Courthouse Practicum.” Loyola is making available to IIT Chicago-Kent students, for example, “Electronic Discovery Law and Problem Solving”; “Health-care Business and Finance”; “International Health Law”; and “Search and Seizure: Fourth Amendment Law and Practice in Illinois.”
Yellen said the idea could give students the opportunity to meet more people as future contacts. “Hopefully, it will work out real well, and we’ll expand it,” Kaufman said.
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