preLaw - Back To School 2008 - (Page 17) UPDATE Ave Maria saga continues Michigan law school alters site for long-planned and much criticized move to Florida BY KAREN DYBIS ve Maria School of Law announced in April that it will move from Michigan to Naples, Fla., instead of the nearby town of Ave Maria as originally planned. The change comes after a lengthy battle over the move of the nine-year-old school. Officials said the new location will help students by giving them more access to area legal employers, better learning opportunities and on-campus housing for both married and single students. The Naples site, known as the Vineyards Campus, is the former home of Ave Maria University, which like the law school was founded by wealthy businessman Thomas S. Monaghan, former owner of the Domino’s pizza chain. The university is now located in the town of Ave Maria, a large-scale development of homes, businesses and Catholic schools. “The law school’s location in the Naples area will provide our students and faculty with an attractive and highly functional set of facilities,” said Charles Roboski, the law school’s associate dean for admissions and external affairs. “Once planned renovations are completed, the facilities will be very comparable to our current campus in Ann Arbor, Mich.” Officials have not ruled out eventually moving to the Ave Maria University campus in eastern Collier County. The American Bar Association must approve the Vineyards Campus move before it is official. Critics, however, have speculated that the move could be a sign of financial problems at the law school, which had previously said it was looking for donations to help with the anticipated $20 million in construction costs associated with its Florida move. The donor could have naming rights to the new facility, school officials indicated. No donor has yet appeared. And in its April announcement, school officials credited “declining national economy and A The new Ave Maria School of Law site in Naples, Fla., is known as the Vineyards Campus and is the former home of Ave Maria University. ongoing high construction costs due to the rising prices of raw materials” as its reason for moving to the Vineyards. As for the naming situation, Roboski said that opportunity still exists for the right person. “Our development staff seeks to build relationships with individuals who support and respect our mission and who wish to help us advance and achieve the next level of excellence,” Roboski said. “We would not expect to receive, nor would we solicit, a naming gift from a person or corporation that was not appreciative of what we are trying to accomplish at Ave Maria School of Law.” Meanwhile, Ave Maria School of Law is still wrestling with other internal issues, such as its poor rating in U.S. News & World Report rankings, which placed the law school in its fourth tier. The law school also is working through a lawsuit filed against the school by three former professors, who say they were unfairly fired. Monaghan founded Ave Maria School of Law in 1999, placing it in Ann Arbor near the now-defunct Ave Maria College. Both schools were located near Domino Farms, the Ann Arbor-based headquarters for Monaghan’s pizza empire. In February 2007, the law school’s Board of Governors voted to move the law school to the Sunshine State, much to the dismay of some professors and students. At the time, officials said starting with the class of 2009 the law school would open in Ave Maria, the town Monaghan founded near Ft. Myers, Fla. In its April announcement, the law school said it will renovate the Vineyards Campus to accommodate its students with new classrooms, the construction of a moot courtroom and clinical offices as well as other refurbishments. Back to School 2008 17
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