Sunday, March 22, 2015

Appalachian Spring; Drink up and Talk Merger!

Emory (Georgia) is a great law school.  But can you imagine Emory North?  A second Emory?  Combining the prestigious aura of Emory with the superciliousness of educational institutions in rural Virginia?

When you need hard-hitting investigative reporting about such things, WCYB Channel Five is on the case.
We were contacted about the status of the Appalachian School of Law by people concerned about its future.  News 5 WCYB's Samantha Kozsey visited the school and spoke to one of its board of trustees, as well as alumni, faculty and former faculty as well as legal consultants about the future of law schools specifically ASL. Just about everyone we spoke to said, this is a tough time especially for the few remaining 'free-standing' private law schools.
Notice that the news organization was contacted by anonymous 3rd parties.  Not the school, surely, but people in the massive outlying legal community who know that if Appalachian Law School shutters it's doors, an entire mountain region loses a crucial source of justice.  Sweet, sweet justice.

Can we help out Virginia Summit Appalachian Law School?  Of course we can!  Merger talks!:
In response to the declining enrollment and the drop in faculty, ASL has entered into discussions with Emory and Henry College to see if they can work out an affiliation.
...
We spoke with the public affairs director, Dirk Moore at Emory and Henry. He says both schools have agreed to continue discussions. He says Emory and Henry needs more time to determine if affiliating with ASL makes sense for them.
 ...
Emory and Henry isn't the only school that has expressed interest in the Appalachian School of Law. We also learned there were brief conversations between people from ASL and some people at ETSU, but no formal discussion about a partnership was ever reached.
Well, fuck, they should.  Have they not heard about all the good things that happen from when you have a law school affiliated with your school?  Cross-disciplinary institute studies with combo JD-whatever degrees are the rage, and guaranteed to help graduates stand out, just like they have in Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and by gum it put them on the map.

Emory and Henry is named after John Emory (same as Emory U.) and Patrick Henry.  The college was founded in 1836 and has an endowment of over $85 million, which could surely be burned through by a fine college of law until the legal sector comes roaring back, and then they'll see the mountainous return on investing when the market is selling.

Contrarian thinking, just like your namesakes!

And before long, you may be as prestigious and enjoy the billion-dollar endowment of another double-named Virginia tag-team of liberal arts and law...

4 comments:

  1. We must keep Appalachian Law going as long as possible. Without it, how will we fulfill our demand, nay, need for scholarship in Moonshine Law or Critical Meth Theory?

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    1. Rural TTTT law schools are the meth labs of democracy...

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  2. "The big concern? Is there enough money coming in to keep the school going?" It's entirely appropriate that there is no big concern for would-be Appalachian School of Law students; they stand to benefit mightily from the dump closing down.

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  3. ASL should network more.

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