NIU’s College of Law is under siege, but some officials are saying the attack is politically motivated.

The Illinois Board of Higher Education recommended cutting NIU’s law school last week as part of the Priorities, Quality and Productivity initiative. PQP is designed to streamline state higher education through the elimination of unproductive academic programs.

NIU’s law school was born in 1979 when the state legislature approved its transfer from south suburban Romeoville’s Lewis University despite fierce IBHE opposition.

Lewis could not afford to fund the law program, so the two schools jointly recommended to the Board of Regents that jurisdiction of the law school be transferred from Lewis to NIU.

The Regents approved the transfer, but the IBHE opposed it because the shuffle didn’t fit in with its “master plan” for higher education.

The Regents then bypassed the IBHE and took the proposal directly to the state legislature, which approved the transfer.

NIU’s end-around ruffled the feathers of some members of the IBHE’s Springfield-based headquarters.

Bill Monat, president of NIU at the time said, “That was the first time the legislature overturned an IBHE recommendation, and it hasn’t happened since.”

Apparently, some IBHE staff members have a long memory. “There may be a residual bitterness at being defeated,” Monat said.

“It doesn’t make sense to get rid of the only affordable law school in this region,” Monat said. “It would cut access for many students.”

Of the three public law schools in Illinois, NIU is the most cost effective. NIU’s cost per credit hour is $208, while Southern Illinois University at Carbondale is $227 and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana is $337.

Sen. Joyce Holmberg, D-Rockford, said NIU’s law school is vital to the northern part of the state.

Holmberg said even though there are numerous private institutions in Chicago, their high costs would exclude many students.

NIU Law Dean James Alfini agreed. “The IBHE is saying if you’re a poor person in Chicago and you want to go to law school then you’ll have to pay $15,000 and go to a private institution,” he said.

Holmberg said the IBHE was not the body which fought for the law school, it might be easier for them to recommend its elimination. However, she said because the legislature enacted the program, it is not going to want to see its work nixed.

Holmberg predicted the cut won’t take place because the state legislature feels so strongly in favor of the program. “NIU’s law school is one of the most popular programs in the state among legislators,” Holmberg said.

The IBHE cannot eliminate academic programs outright, as only the Board of Regents, or in the case of the law school, a bill from the state legislature can dissolve the program. The IBHE does control the purse strings, however.

Ed Underhill, an NIU alumnus and a partner in a large Chicago law firm, said he feels there is little chance NIU will lose its law school.

“The final purpose of a law school is the benefit of the citizens of the community. Illinois needs a public law school in the northern half of the state,” Underhill said.

He said NIU and the Regents worked very hard to get a law school and they won’t let it be dissolved.

“There is a lot of erroneous data in the report justifying the recommendation. It may well be the IBHE has a political agenda.”

Underhill said the IBHE report justifying the elimination “plays on the public’s misconceptions.”

One example is the public’s perception that there is an oversupply of lawyers. In a report, the IBHE states NIU’s law school can be eliminated because of the “poor job market” for lawyers.

However, a United States Department of Labor handbook states, “Employment of lawyers has grown very rapidly since the early 1970s and is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through the year 2005.”

In addition, the Illinois Occupational Information Coordinating Committee was quoted in an IBHE report as saying lawyers will be among the 50 occupations with the fastest growth rate and the greatest number of jobs each year in the state.