As the proposal to further mesh MSU with the Detroit College of Law heads to both schools' boards, many law school community members say the shift would upgrade the college's presence in university decisions as well as its prestige nationwide.
"The college has experienced enormous growth in quality since the affiliation with Michigan State," MSU-DCL College of Law Dean Terence Blackburn said. "This reflects all of the work that has been done to integrate."
If the proposal is passed by the MSU Board of Trustees on April 14 and the MSU-DCL Board of Trustees on April 16, the name would change to the Michigan State University College of Law - omitting any of its former relationship to Detroit.
The school would act as any other college in the university, except its governing board would retain financial responsibility. MSU-DCL currently receives no appropriations from MSU or the state of Michigan.
"That's the beauty of this public-private integration," said Charles Langton, MSU-DCL trustee and alumnus, who graduated from the school in 1987. "It's genius level.
"We have our own board, we have our own hiring and firing alliances. We have a lot of academic freedom. We are really separate, but of course, we have the benefit of the name of MSU."
The law school's partnership with MSU originally was created in 1995 when it began its move to MSU's campus from Detroit. The name changed from Detroit College of Law at MSU to MSU-Detroit College of Law in 2000, and again to MSU-DCL College of Law in 2002.
Langton, who was president of the MSU-DCL National Alumni Association when the school began its transition to East Lansing, said he doesn't see any negative points to the integration.
"It's really a win-win for all of us," he said. "I graduated from the Detroit College of Law, but now I can say I was part of the Michigan State University Detroit College of Law, so I get the best of both worlds."
But Blackburn said the integration could make some alumni feel displaced from their alma mater.
"We will have to work hard to be sure our alumni from the days the college was the Detroit College of Law will still feel part of the college despite the name change," he said. "We're still the same law school we were yesterday."
Professor David Favre, who has been with the Detroit College of Law since 1977, said completely bringing the school into the university is the last of a long series of steps. He also said the curriculum will remain the same.
Second-year MSU-DCL law student Joe Belsito said he's looking forward to the school becoming a larger part of MSU.
"It's a step in the right direction as far as getting the name out there as a Big Ten law school," he said. "It might upset some of the older alumni, but I can't see any downsides at this point."
Staff writers Maggie Bernardi and Tina Reed contributed to this report.
