The Dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, Lawrence Velvel has asked the Department of Education (DOE) to give the American Bar Association (ABA) two choices: mend its existing system or lose federal recognition as an accreditor.  Velvel said that the Department of Education (DOE) officials are inept and has asked two influential legal experts to force the ABA to change its ways. 

The experts, Lawrence DeNardis, former University of New Haven president, and George Pruitt, president of Edison State College in Trenton, NJ, are both members of the powerful National Advisory Committee (NAC).  They attacked the ABA for allegedly breaking the law.  In an NAC conference, DeNardis discussed ABA’s non-compliance of government regulations and policies, remarking that the matter was beyond his comprehension.

Pruitt echoed DeNardis’ sentiments, asking why “a body that prepares practitioners of the law, has such a difficult time complying [with the law].”  He voiced his frustrations about ABA’s “longstanding failure to follow legal rules.”  DeNardis and Pruitt also accused the ABA of having a “powerful monopoly to totally control within [the legal] profession.”

The NAC recommended that the Secretary of Education reduce ABA’s five-year recognition as an accreditor to an 18-month interim renewal.

Velvel said that the DOE’s “incompetent” permanent staff has “failed to question the ABA’s high cost input rules.”  The ABA’s input rules wield a major influence on law school tuitions fees hike, fees which have increased by 267 percent since 1990. 

Currently, 190 ABA schools charge an annual tuition of $25,000; some of them charge more than $30,000.  These exorbitant fees also have had an adverse effect on the student enrollment pattern, causing the minority ratio to decline in these schools. 

Velvel argued that the ABA rules contradict “Congress’ desire that accrediting bodies instead use output rules to measure student learning.”  Incidentally, these rules are no longer followed by other accrediting bodies.
Velvel accused the DOE of failing to uncover ABA’s “secret rules,” dealing with bar passage rates, student/faculty ratios, plush buildings, low hours of teaching, and high LSAT scores.  He stated that these rules, which have been around for years, are worse than the written rules.