Joff Smith, once again bringing up the issue of a UMass Law School. He wants the state delegation to get involved.
But while Smith is gung-ho about the possibility, the reality is that it would be a potentially difficult project with some serious history. In 2005, a UMass-Dartmouth Law School was shot down by the state Board of Higher Education after being approved by the UMass Board of Trustees.
Many councilors love the idea, though they are tempered by reality.
Toomey is also asking for the state to look at moving agencies into the old building. But as a state-owned building, the city doesn’t stand to get too much spinoff unless it is a school or another big draw that moves in.
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2 Comments
April 30, 2008 at 11:32 pm
What old building are we talking about? The courthouse? That would be an awesome use for the area and if it expanded to take up most of Lincoln Square it would create a pretty awesome neighborhood between what already exists on Highland, Becker, WPI, the Worcester Art Museum, Tuckerman Hall, Grove Street and Gateway Park. I think this is well worth as much of a push as possible.
June 20, 2008 at 7:00 pm
The idea of a public law school in Mass is a good one. It’s through lower tuition, public law schools that lawyers who are *from* Mass and will *stay* in Mass after graduating are born. And more than that, having a lower cost in-state tuition allows for less law school debt, and more possibility that graduates can choose to work in public interest law, rather than having to take on higher paying work with private firms.
Perhaps if the law school ends up in Worcester, it’ll be far enough away from the big guns in Boston, and the littler (but only) gun in western Mass to be acceptable to them? Maybe they won’t feel so threatened by it.