Spring Break
CoL seeks accreditation
Noah Cohen
Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: News
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The Drexel University College of Law is currently undergoing a review from the American Bar Association as part of the accreditation process to allow CoL graduates to take area bar exams.
The team, made up of lawyers, a state Supreme Court justice and a private citizen, inspected the CoL facilities between Sept. 30 and Oct. 3 to review the condition of the law school.
Drexel CoL Dean Roger Dennis called the ABA accreditation "completely essential" and explained that the college was seeking provisional accreditation after being open for one year as per ABA rules.
Dennis explained that the CoL first conducted a "self-study" to review its own compliance with the ABA standards.
The ABA standards range from specific curriculum guidelines to the law school's faculties.
Boxes of documents were then sent for the ABA to review according to Dennis.
Simply mailing documents about the CoL's progress is not enough for the Bar Association team.
"The best thing you can do is be over prepared," said Dennis of the review.
While the review process has kept CoL staff busy, Dennis said he has heard positive feedback from the team.
"They have been impressed with the College of Law's dedication to the enterprise," said Dennis but he declined to elaborate on the specifics citing ABA policy.
The ABA process began Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. with a meeting of the review team members and continued with a series of meetings over the week. The meetings included University officials ranging from Provost Stephen Director to President Constantine Papadakis.
According to Dennis, Drexel has no control over who the ABA sends.
Although Dennis has been through a number of law school accreditations as both a reviewer and school administrator, he said he is not numb to the work.
"It does create some amount of institutional stress," he said.
That stress is not new to Drexel general counsel Tobey Oxholm who managed the creation of the CoL since the idea was first proposed.
The team, made up of lawyers, a state Supreme Court justice and a private citizen, inspected the CoL facilities between Sept. 30 and Oct. 3 to review the condition of the law school.
Drexel CoL Dean Roger Dennis called the ABA accreditation "completely essential" and explained that the college was seeking provisional accreditation after being open for one year as per ABA rules.
Dennis explained that the CoL first conducted a "self-study" to review its own compliance with the ABA standards.
The ABA standards range from specific curriculum guidelines to the law school's faculties.
Boxes of documents were then sent for the ABA to review according to Dennis.
Simply mailing documents about the CoL's progress is not enough for the Bar Association team.
"The best thing you can do is be over prepared," said Dennis of the review.
While the review process has kept CoL staff busy, Dennis said he has heard positive feedback from the team.
"They have been impressed with the College of Law's dedication to the enterprise," said Dennis but he declined to elaborate on the specifics citing ABA policy.
The ABA process began Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. with a meeting of the review team members and continued with a series of meetings over the week. The meetings included University officials ranging from Provost Stephen Director to President Constantine Papadakis.
According to Dennis, Drexel has no control over who the ABA sends.
Although Dennis has been through a number of law school accreditations as both a reviewer and school administrator, he said he is not numb to the work.
"It does create some amount of institutional stress," he said.
That stress is not new to Drexel general counsel Tobey Oxholm who managed the creation of the CoL since the idea was first proposed.
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