The Facts: 10 years ago Mary Teatro, pre-law advisor, developed the N.C. State law fair, the first institutional law fair in this region to provide services and resources to students seeking law school upon graduation. Today, the pre-law services N.C. State offers are getting cut from OASIS.
Our Opinion: If these programs get cut merely because of their lack of fitting into the traditional view of N.C. State’s course of study and research, Provost Arden is putting many students interested in the pre-law program at a major disadvantage. Arden would also be discouraging a certain population of current and prospective students from attending N.C. State University by taking away these services.
The pre-law services N.C. State offers includes speaking with students about law school, research in law, preparation for the LSAT test, coordinating and managing the application process to law school and evaluating the right track for success in being admitted to law school. These once valued and utilized services will no longer be offered to students that might be interested in furthering their education at law school. Provost, Warwick Arden, in charge of academic advising and student success, should understand the impact this cut has across the various colleges, and should work with administrators on salvaging this resource.
With the recent cuts from the Office of Advising Support, Information and Services, Provost Warwick Arden and Chancellor Randy Woodson are purging N.C. State of the programs that N.C. State is not known for. The typical programs that do not bring in the money for N.C. State will slowly start to deteriorate. Of these programs, the pre-law services OASIS offers will no longer be a resource to students. This cut will not only limit N.C. State students in their career and degree options, but builds a barrier to all programs not deemed worthy my administration.
Students in majors like agriculture business management, engineering, business and marketing and history have the potential to further their education in law school for careers in government, law or policy making. The students in these programs are no longer given the vital resource OASIS’s pre-law services offered. The cut has spread panic among students with pre-law in mind, some are even thinking of changing majors or transferring to other schools. This is the last thing the University needs.
N.C. State might be focusing on their strengths, but instead of improving on their weaknesses they’re merely cutting them. These cuts are causing students who are involved in programs that N.C. State is not recognized for to be left out in the cold, and in this current economic climate N.C. State is facing the last thing we should be doing is rejecting students from their area of interest.
If Woodson and Arden would like to improve N.C. State’s monetary future, along with their reputation, they should take the time to reevaluate the services that are not fully utilized and consolidate them, rather than completely eliminate a program used to help students to higher academic and professional success.
