Fundamentalist law school gets provisional approval from ABA

I received an email from the infamous Liberty University today, an unaccredited fundamentalist institution known for being more like a concentration camp than a campus. I mean, honestly: what college fines students $50 for watching or possessing an R-rated movie? Moreover, what college fines students $250 for "association with those consuming alcohol"? The place even has codes for permissible dress, hair, and music, which you get fined $10 for violating! I mean, if I wanted that kind of abuse, I'd hire a live-in dominatrix.

But I digress. The e-mail actually came not from the main college, but from Liberty University School of Law. Here is the text of the e-mail:

Liberty University School of Law is pleased to announce the granting of provisional approval by the American Bar Association (ABA) on February 13, 2006.

Provisional approval grants Liberty University School of Law graduates the same rights and responsibilities as students who graduate from a fully approved law school. Graduates are allowed to sit for the bar examination in any state. In the words of the ABA, “An individual who graduates while the school is provisionally approved [is] entitled to the same recognition given to ... graduates of fully approved law schools.”

The granting of provisional approval came at the earliest date possible – only eighteen months after classes began in August 2004. The law school will graduate its first class in May 2007.

New law schools must apply to the ABA for provisional approval before applying for full approval. They cannot apply for full approval until they have operated for at least two full academic years with provisional approval.

The Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar is recognized as the accrediting agency of law schools by the U.S. Department of Education. The Council met and made its decision on Saturday, February 11. A vote by the House of Delegates at the ABA’s six-day mid-year meeting, ending on February 13 in Chicago, affirmed the decision of the Council that Liberty’s law school has earned provisional approval.

Located in Lynchburg, Virginia, Liberty University School of Law offers rigorous instruction in law, grounding in the theological and philosophical foundations of the law, and six required semesters of lawyering skills. Its six semesters of lawyering skills ensure that each graduate knows how to move a case from the initial client interview to court verdict – and has the practice skills essential to planning client affairs. Scholarships are available for 2006-2007.

Now as you can probably tell from the boldface, two things stood out at me from this e-mail. Firstly, I'm honestly shocked that the ABA would even consider granting provisional approval to a school that purports to teach the "theological foundations of the law." If they were talking about the legal system in Iran, this would make sense. I assume, however, that they are talking about the American legal system, which was--and is--modeled after (very secular) English Common Law.

But then again, I get the impression that they aren't interested in teaching students the law as it is currently interpreted. On the "About" section of their web site, they assert that they "are a law school where what is taught comports with history, objective reality, morality, and common sense." There is no mention whatsoever of their teachings comporting with the law, of course. "Objective reality," I can only assume, means the fundamentalist worldview. Indeed, as their mission statement reads:

The vision of the School of Law is to see again all meaningful dialogue over law include the role of faith and the perspective of a Christian worldview as the framework most conducive to the pursuit of truth and justice.

So basically, they're dedicated to overthrowing the secular paradigm upon which our very system of laws is based. But then, what can one expect of a school that has a picture of Jerry Falwell prominently displayed on the front page of its web site? Not much else, I suppose. Still, I can't even begin to fathom what must have been running through the heads of those at the ABA when they chose to grant this school even provisional approval.

Secondly, the scholarships: I don't know how much they're for, but they aren't enough. If we were talking full tuition plus a multiple hundred-thousand dollar annual stipend, I might consider applying...but if I did, it would only be for the sake of sucking dry the school's funds.