Faculty Members in the Dark about Charleston Law Closing

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Summary: Faculty members, students, and alumni are upset about the possible closure of Charleston School of Law and a possible sale to the InfiLaw System.

Faculty members gathered on the gutted second floor of the BellSouth Building to hear from board members that the Charleston School of Law was shutting down. Although a press release had been on Twitter for more than an hour at that point, most of the faculty had not yet heard the news.

  

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Watch this exclusive video of the announcement at the school:

The two board members, Robert Carr and George Kosko, who happen to also be retired U.S. magistrates, delivered the upsetting news before the audience of employees of the school. They urged the faculty to be “cheerleaders” for the school’s sale to the InfiLaw System or they would close the school and everyone would be out of a job. The board members want the faculty to convince students that the sale is a good thing, even though most find InfiLaw as an “dirty” system that spits out new lawyers with big debts and little experience. Carr and Kosko asked professors to send private emails in support of the sale to InfiLaw representatives and to the state’s Commission on Higher Education. The Commission controls the license that the school is able to operate under.

The faculty claims that the board members are ignoring any other options that don’t produce a profit because they will be making millions if the deal finalizes. Carr and Kosko, along with three other persons, founded the school twelve years ago. They tapped $25 million in profits from the school in three years, starting in 2010. The InfiLaw deal was first announced in 2013.

The news comes during the middle of exams for the students, causing unnecessary stress. Faculty and students are upset with the timing of the announcements since Carr and Kosko plan to make a formal announcement at a later date anyway. Students are requesting transcripts in case they need to transfer schools. Other students are demanding their tuition deposits to be returned to them. Those that are close to graduating are taking summer classes to push their graduation dates up.

InfiLaw has also backed away from the school since their first attempt to obtain a license from the Commission on Higher Education was halted by faculty, students and alumni. It appears that everyone except the board members would rather see the school close than become another InfiLaw school. Some tenured professors are considering legal action against Carr and Kosko for intentionally putting the school in financial ruin.

Source: http://sclawyersweekly.com/news/2015/05/13/charleston-school-of-law-a-law-school-on-the-brink/