Stetson to open night law school at a Tampa site

The university expects about 50 students in 2002, building eventually to about 200.

By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 6, 2001

TAMPA -- Stetson University College of Law will expand to Tampa by August 2002 with a part-time program aimed at allowing working people to obtain law degrees at night, the school announced Tuesday.

Gary Vause, the school dean, said he received confirmation Tuesday that the American Bar Association had approved the expansion. Vause said the school has looked at several sites in Tampa for the new campus, but he would not disclose the locations.

Vause said the new campus will start with a class of 50 and grow to at least 200 students. It will require 30,000 square feet of building space to start, with room to expand.

"I think now we're able to bring legal education to working people," said Vause, adding the school would expand its minority outreach program. The school is accepting applications immediately.

Vause said existing faculty would be given the option of teaching on the Tampa campus, and new staff would be hired.

"We'll probably hire at least two new faculty members for next year," he said. "It would maintain our student-teacher ratio of around 17-to-1. We'll be hiring whatever it takes."

Founded in 1900, Stetson is the state's oldest law school. There are about 650 students at its campus in Gulfport. Stetson University, Florida's oldest private university, also has campuses in DeLand and Celebration. The school says more than 2,700 of its graduates live and work in the Tampa Bay area.

At the night school, students will be able to get law degrees after at least four years' study. There is no night-school program at the Gulfport campus.

"To get Stetson as a law school that's a hundred years old, we're elated about it," said Mayor Dick Greco, speaking at a news conference at his office.

Greco said the new campus would serve the city well as it competes to attract well-educated workers. The mayor has used the same pitch in selling a proposed cultural arts district along the Hillsborough River. "When people look at this community, it's becoming very complete," Greco said.

Greco said several possible sites for the night school are in or around downtown.

Vause has said the West Shore business district also is a possible location because of its proximity to Pinellas County. The mayor has suggested the old police station in Tampa Heights, the same place used in an unsuccessful attempt last year to woo the new Florida A & M University law school.

Stetson's interest in opening a Tampa branch first surfaced last year during the competition for the FAMU law school. At the time, Vause said he hoped to have it opened by August this year.

Vause said the new campus should be within a reasonable commuting distance for Tampa's working population and near the city's government agencies.

- Staff writer Christopher Goffard can be reached at (813) 226-3337.

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