The Daily Campus

Issue date: 1/29/09 Section: Commentary

As many students have probably heard, UConn no longer employs a pre-law advisor, thanks to budget cuts. Several e-mails addressing the matter had been circulating between students and the Department of Political Science even before the start of the semester. This lack of a pre-law advisor is a great inconvenience to many students, especially seniors in the midst of law school applications.

The former pre-law advisor was Frank Goetz, a professor and general advisor for political science. However, UConn was forced to remove pre-law from the political science department along with Goetz because the department simply does not have the funds. But Goetz still remains an advisor for political science.

The first e-mail received told students that pre-law was being moved to the Honors Program. But, about a week later, another e-mail told students that the Honors Program had not yet hired a replacement, directing students in need the Web site for UConn's law school, and providing a contact for seniors, to be used only for emergencies.

The head of the Political Science Department, Mark Boyer, has thankfully cleared up several of the issues surrounding this change. Apparently, the budget problems affecting every department forced pre-law out of political science, and the hiring freeze the departments faced did not allow them to hire a new person immediately.

Lynne Goodstein, the director of the Honors Program, has told us that pre-law has moved to the Enrichment Program, giving students from any major a more straightforward route than having to go through POLS. The Enrichment Program is waiting to hire a full-time pre-law advisor, rather than having a graduate student hold the position for a short-term period. A full-time advisor should prove to be much more helpful than the 10 hours a week offered by Goetz.

Goodstein said that interviews concluded Tuesday and they hope to hire someone by the end of the semester. They have very high standards for the new advisors and the requirements are lengthy, including three to five years of experience and a law degree.

While many students met the news of a lack of a pre-law advisor with fear and frustration, anyone applying to law school in the future actually has a lot to look forward to. Having a full time advisor will make a big difference in pre-law accessibility. In addition, since the person hired will only be doing pre-law, he or she will have more time to focus on what students really need. This should be welcomed as great news for pre-law students, except for seniors that are still without an advisor, which Boyer apologizes for.

Budget cuts have been a huge pain to deal with, but this particular cut pushed along a much-needed change for pre-law advising and students need to look at this change for the long-term results.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools