It has never been this close to becoming a reality. In fact, the idea has never even been proposed to the academic senate until now. A law program at Memorial may be less of a pipe dream than many believe. In an interview with The Muse, the Provost and academic Vice-President Dr. Noreen Golfman talks about about what stage the proposal is currently in, what the school could eventually look like, and how the program would financially impact students.
According to Dr. Golfman, senate has green-lit the idea. However, this is only one of the first stages of having the program come to fruition. The Board of Regents, a body of administrators who approve or disapprove of anything which involves spending at Memorial, must now review a more detailed and cost-focused proposal and decide whether or not they are a proponent of the idea. When asked how likely it would be that the board would approve, Dr. Golfman had this to say:
“I’m sure there will be a debate… our challenge is – my challenge certainly is – to make the best possible case. Obviously I feel passionately about this. I think the benefits are huge to the university and the province and I would hope that when I get to the point of putting that case on the table that it will be self evident”.
The tuition for the program would be “competitive”, Dr. Golfman stated. This means a ballpark cost of 14 to 18 thousand dollars (this is what the proposal is aiming for). Rumours of a 30 thousand dollar tuition cost are based on a model which includes zero federal or provincial assistance and the construction of a new building immediately. Dr. Golfman was fairly clear on this issue, saying that “there’s no way we’re putting up a law school with 30,000 in tuition”. When asked if anybody from the federal or provincial government had spoken with her about governmental assistance, she simply said that it was too early for those sort of talks.
One item of concern which many students have had on their minds is whether or not the program would offer a hyper-specialized law degree focusing on, for example, indigenous rights and environmental law, as opposed to offering a broader law education. When asked about this, Dr. Golfman insisted that students would be taught all foundational elements of law required for accreditation, with the opportunity to specialize in areas which would benefit Newfoundland specifically.
“Well there’s a foundational piece, to get accreditation. We would have to offer the core business that all law students across Canada need in order to be called to the bar. But we’re allowed to stream specific programming and to distinguish our program once we cover those foundational pieces in various areas. So what our abilities studies came up with and what has been reflected back from all of the province-wide consultation we had was that aboriginal issues, indigenous law, and issues around land claims (a very important piece for which we need legal expertise), northern community sustainability, issues around marine law, cluster ideas that have to do with our resources and our geography here [are important] unlike anywhere else; and social justice as a broad umbrella – that really penetrates into those two other areas but also is broader. So I think it would be great if once we had approval for going forward that we would really be able to brand this law school as being progressive and different from other run of the mill [programs]… different and unique to Memorial and this province”.
On tuition for students who are not involved in the law program, Dr. Golfman stated that nothing would change. Senate had approved the proposal on the basis that the program would be cost neutral and not affect other programs.
One of the trickier elements of the proposal is the matter of constructing a new building within which classes can be held. Dr. Golfman stated that this would have to be the case, and much of the fundraising concerns revolving around the proposal involve this issue.
When asked for a tentative estimate on how long it would take until students could enrol in the program, she stated three years (this is based on recent examples across Canada).
Dr. Golfman believes that the creation of this program would benefit the province, and the country, hugely. “I can tell you that the market for it is bursting. It’s interesting to note that we know there are at least over 1000 students, Canadians, studying law elsewhere in another country because they can’t study law in Canada. Because there aren’t enough places to study law in this country. And many of them want to come back. And many of them do return to Canada once they get their law degree actually so we know that filling the seats we have allocated or proposed is not gonna be a problem at all. And that goes not just for educating Newfoundlanders but it goes for providing that access to Canadians and beyond”.