Before a new crop of law students ever walks through the doors of the Van Hecke-Wettach building" they already have had their first Carolina Law experience.
""When we assemble an orientation" we put them out on the street and hope it doesn't rain" said Jack Boger, dean of the School of Law.
The other option - putting all the students in the law school's rotunda - is hardly an option at all. That area holds only about 100 people, and the first-year class is usually 235 students.
Administrators expect that five years from now, it will be a different story and the first-year class could be housed in a new auditorium. Last week they lifted the curtain on plans to secure a larger and updated facility at Carolina North.
The move is supposed to make for a more comfortable learning environment, rather than bump up enrollment numbers.
The law school hasn't increased the size of its first-year class much during the past 10 years, except this year, when it took 240 students.
I can't remember the last time that the target was higher or lower than 235 students"" said Michael States, assistant dean of admissions for the law school.
Although the plan is to take 40 more students in the next five years, administrators say the expansion is about the necessity of state-of-the-art education facilities.
Plans for the Van Hecke building, which has begun to fall apart, have not yet been determined.
And for the law school community, the most talked about issue with the move seems to be whether the school will become further disconnected from the main campus.
But below the radar, there's a discussion about the quality of the legal education and what it means to have the school's identity tied to the name Carolina North"" versus ""UNC-Chapel Hill.""
The concept of Carolina North is a changing plan" originally lauded as a research and corporate-sponsored campus. The law school's decision means the satellite campus's identity is being redefined allowing for more academic-centered units to be housed there.
The proximity of other departments to the Van Hecke building has helped create an environment for joint research among the faculty" a major focus of Carolina North.
""There's a lot of people that do law research and politics research"" said Luis Lluberas-Oliver, Student Bar Association president.
If the law school is the only academic unit at Carolina North for some time, those relationships have the potential to become nonexistent or hardly evident.
So far, the Innovation Center is the only other building with concrete plans going forward. Other academic groups and concepts have yet to commit, and a design and physical plan have yet to be confirmed.
One of the things that weighed against this choice was a lack of specificity about Carolina North" Boger said.
But Boger's decision to make the law school one of the first tenants could be enticing for others.
The fact that the law school is there as an academic unit would make it more appealing to us and ... any academic unit" said Mike Smith, dean of the School of Government, adding that the law school would give Carolina North a less corporate-partnership feel.""
Boger said he thinks other professional schools and a planned Centers and Institutes building would be appropriate neighbors.
But it will be several months" at the least before another decision is made. So until then the law school remains the only academic group to tie its name with Carolina North.
The future of the Van Hecke-Wettach law building
A facilities planning committee which meets every few weeks will develop a plan for when the building vacates. No decision has been made or suggested as to how the building should be used yet.
The building:
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
