Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law is still working to meet key admissions standards, according to the American Bar Association.
The bar association’s legal education and admissions council has requested that the school submit a report demonstrating compliance by Aug. 1 for review at a meeting later that month. If TSU does not demonstrate compliance, the school will be required to appear before the council again in November.
Joan R.M. Bullock, dean of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, said the college is now working to demonstrate that its in compliance with published policies and procedures with its incoming August class and will report on the process to the ABA after the current admissions cycle concludes.
“I’m very confident in the steps that I’ve taken and that we have policies and procedures in place that will not only encourage us in bringing in a strong class but making sure that we do,” said Bullock, who arrived as TSU’s dean of the law school last summer. Since then, she said she has worked to ensure procedures are recorded and understood by law school staff.
Three years ago, the historically black law school was publicly censured, required to pay a fine and mandated to provide the bar a plan of action toward compliance with accreditation standards.
The ABA’s May report concluded that TSU still hasn’t demonstrated adherence to “sound admissions policies and practices,” but has proved compliance with other standards that were formerly in review, including admitting students who “appear capable of satisfactorily completing its program of legal education and being admitted to the bar.”
“So far, everything is working very well,” Bullock said, but there’s still more work to do.
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