FROM THE HILL
‘We need a
building that
reflects, in its
physical stature
and design, not
only the present
and glimpses
of the future,
but also the
deepest values of
the University,
with echoes of
McCorkle Place,
Polk Place and
the graceful
beauty of the
present campus.’
Dean Jack Boger
’ 74 (JD)
Law School Plans Move to Carolina North
Calling it “a momentous day in the
life of this School of Law,” Dean
Jack Boger ’ 74 (JD) has told faculty, students, staff and alumni of UNC’s
law school that he has accepted an offer
from Chancellor James Moeser and
Provost Bernadette Gray-Little to move
the school to the new Carolina North
campus.
Boger said the school would be “the
anchor tenant, as it were, on the first
great quadrangle to be established at Carolina North.”
The school faced the question of
whether to relocate or to try to expand on
the main campus. Boger explained that the
Van Hecke-Wettach Hall, built in 1968,
and a large addition built in the 1990s no
longer were adequate to the school’s needs.
He cited “recent changes in legal pedagogy
and the demands of the modern practice of
law — especially the move toward smaller
classes, seminars and simulation courses, as
well as the substantial expansion in our faculty’s size and research interests, our clinical, trial advocacy and moot court programs, our student law journals and other
organizations, and the growth of new
interdisciplinary law school centers.”
Boger said the school seeks “a modern, environmentally friendly facility, one
open to other schools and departments,
to other scholars, our alumni and the
interested public. We need a building that
reflects, in its physical stature and design,
not only the present and glimpses of the
future, but also the deepest values of the
University, with echoes of McCorkle
Place, Polk Place and the graceful beauty
of the present campus.”
The proposed building would be
200,000 square feet. The law school currently has 166,000 square feet.
The move has the Board of Trustees’
approval, and it is expected to be one of
four capital funding priorities in the 2008
short session of the N.C. General Assembly. Boger said the move could be completed by 2012 or 2013.
Boger also hinted at the possible
makeup of the new campus, envisioned
on part of the University’s 1,000-acre
DAN SEARS’ 74
tract at the present location of Horace
Williams Airport, pending zoning change
approval of the town of Chapel Hill.
“We anticipate that our eventual
neighbors will include other distinguished
professional schools, the University’s
research centers and institutes, and exciting but still unborn academic activities.”
The school plans to expand its faculty
to 58 from 43 members. It raised $32
million in the recent Carolina First Campaign and also secured a new recurring
$2 million appropriation from the N.C.
General Assembly.
In his letter, Boger recounted the
physical history of the school. Law studies
began in two private homes, first that of
William Horn Battle (class of 1820) in
1845; then the home of its second professor, Samuel Field Phillips (class of 1841).
Subsequently classes were taught in Old
West, South Building and Smith Hall
(now Playmakers Theatre). In 1923, the
school moved into Manning Hall and, in
1968, to Van Hecke-Wettach Hall.
Van Hecke-Wettach
Hall took on a major
addition in the
1990s, but the law
school has limited
space for additional
expansion at its
main campus site. At
Carolina North, the
school envisions having an additional
34,000 square feet.
