Article published August 18, 2008
REVITALIZATION
Downtown site for University of Toledo law school resurfaces; many faculty still resist proposal
By JC REINDL
BLADE STAFF WRITER
There’s a proposal out there to instantly bring 500 of the area’s brightest young minds to downtown Toledo, triggering a wave of revitalization that could fill empty storefronts, attain the “critical mass” of urban dwellers needed for growth, and go a ways toward plugging the so-called “brain drain.”
And it’s entirely legal.
The idea to move the University of Toledo college of law to downtown has again entered public discussion.
One idea was to relocate the college to the United Way building at 1 Stranahan Square. The agency has announced plans to build a small headquarters nearby and demolish the signature downtown Stranahan Building.
But Dr. Lloyd Jacobs, the UT president, dismissed that idea after touring the building Friday. He said the building would need too much renovation to be useful to the university.
Of course, there are other downtown properties that might better suit the university’s needs.
Students listen to Professor Lynn Branham lecturing at Cooley Law School branch in Grand Rapids, Mich. The school has helped transform what was once known as the ‘homeless district.’
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GRAND RAPIDS (MICH.) PRESS/T.J. HAMILTON
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The concept of moving the law school downtown has a history of drawing groans from law school faculty members, many of whom prefer to stay where they are on UT’s main campus near the Secor Road entrance.
Yet there is a number of UT law graduates and public officials who see moving the law school downtown as a catalyst for urban growth.
These proponents say that after some initial sacrifice on the university’s part — mostly in renovation costs — the relocation would bring great long-term benefits for both UT and the city.
“The university and the city are linked, we are wedded together, and what is good for one is nine times out of 10 good for the other,” said City Councilman Joe McNamara, an attorney with the downtown firm McNamara & Schaller and a graduate of New York University school of law.
He added: “A strong Toledo with a vibrant downtown helps the university because it makes it more attractive for the best talented students to move here.”
Leading proponent Ben Konop, a county commissioner and part-time law instructor at UT and Ohio Northern University college of law, said the law school cannot insulate itself from the struggles of downtown Toledo.
“If downtown fails, I think the university will have a hard time succeeding and growing,” said Mr. Konop, a University of Michigan law school graduate. “The fate of our region, in large part, depends on the future of downtown.”
Moving downtown also would bring benefits to UT’s students, who would be in the center of northwest Ohio’s legal universe, proponents say.
They would be within walking distance of federal, county, and municipal courts, public service agencies, and many attorneys’ offices. The Toledo Bar Association counts 1,185 attorneys with a downtown Toledo presence.
Proximity could help students network and make connections leading to internships and jobs.
Nearby internships
Moving the school downtown was a campaign issue for Keith Wilkowski during his 2005 run for Toledo mayor. A 1982 UT law graduate, Mr. Wilkowski is a former city law director, Lucas County commissioner, and Toledo school board member.
He is also a likely candidate in next year’s mayoral race.
“It makes all the sense in the world to have the law school located near the court system and the lawyers,” he said last week.
A few of the nation’s top-ranked and most prestigious law schools have downtown locations, including Northwestern University school of law in Chicago and Georgetown law in Washington.
“There are a number of law schools around the country that are located away from their main campus, and they do it in part because the internships that their students can undertake at a law firm just down the street are very valuable — part of the educational experience,” said David Van Zandt, dean of Northwestern’s law school, which is about 15 miles from the university’s main campus in Evanston, Ill.
But within UT’s law school, the notion of moving downtown remains as unpopular among faculty as it was during Mr. Wilkowski’s run and the following year, when Mr. Konop made it a key issue for his county commissioners campaign.
UT Law Professor William Richman, who feels the law school should stay put, said that Dean Douglas Ray recently sent faculty members an e-mail informing them that the downtown proposal had reappeared.
“Immediately three or four faculty members fired back e-mails with ‘what a terrible idea,’” Mr. Richman said. “And even some were emeritus faculty members, who have no dog in the fight.”
The law school’s three-story, 115,000-square-foot building dates to 1972. While sections of the interior decor may bear an early 1970s institutional feel, the building’s courtroom and classrooms are generally up-to-date with wireless Internet and computerized “smart board” technology. It received more than $625,000 in renovations between 2005 and 2007.
“I think I can say the law school community would favor remaining on the university campus,” Dean Ray said. “A move would inconvenience both students and faculty, and I think that the faculty sentiment is really based on what’s best for students.”Proud of central sites
Moving into any building downtown likely would necessitate millions of dollars in renovations.
Professor Richman said that by trading a campus setting for an office building, students and faculty would lose easy access to UT’s recreation facilities and medical care, as well as interaction with other academic disciplines.
“Many times I have heard students and their parents comment on how the University of Toledo has a pleasant suburban residential university campus, unlike say Cleveland State, which is in downtown Cleveland, unlike Akron, which is in downtown Akron, unlike Capital, which is in downtown Columbus.”
But some highly regarded law schools tout their urban locations.
Georgetown, which is ranked near the top of first-tier law schools by U.S. News and World Report magazine, boasts of being “in the very heart of Washington.”
There is similar pride at the University of Maryland school of law, a top-50 school in downtown Baltimore.
“We have access to the federal government, the state government, and the local government where we’re located,” said Jamie Smith, director of communication.
Maryland students’ relationship with downtown is in many ways symbiotic, he said, as they regularly apply their growing skills helping local residents.
“In Baltimore there are all kinds of low-income communities and public interest groups who benefit from students providing representation,” Mr. Smith said.
However, Professor Richman, an alumnus of Maryland’s law school, noted that there is usually more geographic distance between downtown law schools such as Maryland and Northwestern and their main university campuses than the 3½ miles separating UT and downtown.
Because downtown is fairly close, UT students already have maximized their internship and volunteer opportunities with downtown law firms and agencies, the professor said.
UT in recent years has been among U.S. News and World Report’s top 100 law schools.A Michigan example
The Cooley Law School branch in downtown Grand Rapids, Mich., is an example of a law school that helped spur urban redevelopment.
The school opened five years ago inside a former pharmaceutical distribution warehouse in what was considered the city’s “homeless district,” Associate Dean Nelson Miller said.
Soon new restaurants, shops, and a cosmetology school sprouted nearby. And many of its more than 550 students chose to live downtown, fueling the market for new housing units.
“It really did seem to kick off the surrounding development,” Mr. Miller said.
Councilman McNamara sees similar possibilities for downtown Toledo. Law students who work and attend school downtown would have more reasons to live downtown, eat downtown, and enjoy downtown entertainment.
“The law school moving downtown is another piece of the puzzle of rejuvenating downtown,” he said.
Contact JC Reindl at: jreindl@theblade.com or 419-724-6065.
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