The facts: On June 13, 2011, pre-law services at N.C. State will be terminated. On May 18, 2011, N.C. State’s College of Management and Campbell University’s School of Law announced a new dual J.D. and MBA program that will now be offered. 

Our opinion: If N.C. State wishes to promote law school and continue in this direction of offering graduate opportunities in law, it should reinstate its pre-law program. It is hypocritical to cut the pre-law program in the same semester as the announcement of a new N.C. State law program.

In March, N.C. State announced that effective June 13, 2011, pre-law services at N.C. State will be officially terminated. However, on May 18, 2011, the Poole College of Management at N.C. State and the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University announced a new dual-degree program that will be offered at the Campbell Law School located in downtown Raleigh, minutes from N.C. State. It’s unsettling that during the same semester N.C. State announced the cut of its pre-law program, it also announced a decision promoting law school.

N.C. State’s partnership with Campbell is designed to facilitate graduate students’ pursuit of a dual J.D. and MBA. The program is an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in business or law school who wishes to gain an edge on employment competition. There is no additional cost for the program’s creation, but N.C. State also has no plans to hire new staff for academic counseling. 

Mary Tetro, adviser for the pre-law program, entered early retirement last semester, and told her students that the rationale behind the decision to cut pre-law was that “Pre-Law Services serves only a small number of students.” However, pre-law serves not only those set on law school. Pre-law is an unusual track because it solely provides guidance, but does not have any mandatory requirements. Anyone who completes a four-year degree can apply to law school. Some students go into a field like engineering or biology and then realize the jobs in the field are not for them. One option is to start over with a new degree; another is law school. 

Tetro, however, thinks that the Campbell law school is great; she says there aren’t negative effects from the decision, and that the decision was not affected by the termination of the pre-law services at states. It is definitely true that the Campbell-State partnership is a positive step for N.C. State; it is also possible that the termination of pre-law services was a step backward for students seeking to enter programs such as the one N.C. State now offers. 

The dual program with Campbell manifested two years ago, when the Campbell law school began developing in downtown Raleigh. Dean Weiss of Poole College of Management at N.C. State said there were many commonalities between the N.C. State MBA program and the Campbell law focus on fields such as intellectual properties and innovation, which are very much related to business. This means the N.C. State administration knew the law school downtown would likely be eventually associated with N.C. State. They knew this dual degree program was about to begin when they made the decision to cut the pre-law program at N.C. State. 

It is simply illogical for the N.C. State administration to make these two contradictory decisions, especially within the same semester. It is like encouraging students to reach for the apples at the top of the tree but taking away the ladder from under them. If N.C. State wishes to promote law school and other prestigious graduate programs, it should not take away the means to the end. The pre-law program undoubtedly served many students at N.C. State. If N.C. State wishes to continue in this direction, the only logical course of action is the reinstatement of the pre-law program.