THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300308
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
A key American Bar Association committee told Regent University officials Monday that it had recommended Regent's law school for full accreditation, university President Terry Lindvall said.
The decision, by the ABA's accreditation committee, appears to pave the way for a hard-won triumph in Regent's nearly decade-long campaign to win total acceptance from the bar association.
In 1989, the ABA offered the Christian law school ``provisional'' accreditation, saying the school would have to address concerns about issues such as finances and academic freedom before it could receive full accreditation.
For students, accreditation means they can take the bar exam anywhere in the country - an important prerequisite for a practicing attorney. For schools, accreditation offers the profession's seal of quality.
With Regent's provisional accreditation, students were also allowed to take the bar exam anywhere. But full accreditation would provide more lasting benefits, Pat Robertson, the founder and chancellor of the university, said Monday.
Robertson said it would attract more top-notch students and professors to the 10-year-old law school, which now has 350 students. ``It'll take us to a whole new level of excellence,'' he said. ``. . . It's a major step forward.''
Said Lindvall: ``This is no longer a provisional place. . . . The ABA recognizes the sterling standards we have set.''
The recommendation for full accreditation still must be approved by two larger bodies of the bar association - the ABA council, which Lindvall said meets in May, and house of delegates, which meets in August. But Lindvall said he believed those votes would be a formality. ``Essentially,'' he said, ``this was the major hurdle. We've never gotten past this before.''
A representative of the American Bar Association, which is generally tight-lipped about its accreditation process, refused Monday to confirm or deny the recommendation because a letter has not yet been sent to the school.
DeeAndria Hampton, administrative secretary to the ABA's Office of the Consultant to Legal Education, said a positive recommendation by the accreditation committee does not guarantee accreditation.
``The accreditation committee can make their judgment, but it's not necessarily their recommendation that gets the school approved or not,'' Hampton said. ``At each level, there are going to be interpretations of whether or not the school is in compliance with ABA standards, and they may or may not differ.''
However, Regent's law dean, J. Nelson Happy, said he has never heard of a case in which an accreditation committee's favorable recommendation has been overturned.
The battle for accreditation has been linked with turbulence in the law school's short history.
The school's founding dean, Herbert W. Titus, was fired by Robertson in 1993. Supporters of Titus had said the religiously conservative dean was cast off to persuade the ABA that the law school was mainstream. But Titus' critics said he was authoritarian and restricted discussion both inside and outside the classroom.
After Titus' firing, eight faculty members complained to the ABA, saying his dismissal violated Regent's tenure policy. They complained again when three law professors were subsequently fired.
But Lindvall said the ABA committee - which met with Lindvall, Robertson and Happy in Indianapolis on Friday - appeared satisfied that the law school was protecting academic freedom. At the meeting, Lindvall said, Robertson joked, ``Look, my president's a Democrat.''
Robertson said, ``I think we answered all of their questions and concerns. I do believe the quality of our law school, the quality of our students, our new professors - all of the things we are doing - sit well with the ABA.''
Lindvall said, ``I think they saw that we are not only committed to our evangelical Christian mission, but we are part of the academic community, a genuine member. Secondly, that our board of trustees and our chancellor, Pat Robertson, have demonstrated a commitment to excellence in law education.''
The new law school building, Robertson Hall, and technological improvements in the law library also quelled doubts about the school's finances, Lindvall said.
The accreditation committee, which includes law professors from across the country, also visited the campus in December to survey classes and talk to officials.
Happy, the law dean, said: ``I think this has been 10 years of hard work for the law school to reach this point, and we've finally gotten together the faculty and students and physical facilities that we need. . . . There is no hurry by the ABA. They make the decisions when they feel you meet the standards, and we've finally gotten to that point.'' ILLUSTRATION: Regent President Terry Lindvall: ``The ABA recognizes the
sterling standards we have set.''
SCHOOL'S FIRST DECADE
1986 - Law school established with total enrollment of 103
students.
1989 - The American Bar Association grants school provisional
approval.
1991 - Regent receives $117 million donation from Pat Robertson's
Christian Broadcasting Network.
1993 - Founding dean of law school, Herbert W. Titus, fired by
university. Eight full-time professors file complaint with ABA,
concerning job security and academic freedom.
1994 - Five professors sue Regent, alleging that new teaching
contracts violate the school's long-standing tenure policy.
1995 - ABA gives Regent another year before final decision on
accreditation. Judge rules against professors in tenure suit.
1996 - Regent says ABA accreditation committee recommends full
accreditation for school.
by CNB