On the New Law School Bldg.

Today Marquette announced that it had received a $51 million gift, the largest by far in the school’s history, from an alumni couple towards a new law school building. That is wonderful news, of course, and congratulations to Fr. Wild, Dean Kearney, and most of all the Eckstein’s, for their wonderful generosity and vision.

In announcing this gift, the University also provided many new and exciting details about the building. They give us several insights into the future of the law school more generally. I offer a schmorgasborg of thoughts, in no particular order, and with no intention to diminish the specialness of this moment.

1. More power to the Ecksteins. Mr. Eckstein made his fortune founding and building a pair of companies that operate boats and barges up and down the Mississippi hauling goods. It is not a particularly sexy industry and the company is not a household name. Yet he’s been able to live a good life and to be very generous in his philanthropy. And frankly, he’s certainly made a lot more money in life as CEO of a barge company than his classmates who became partners at Foley and Quarles.

2. The initial cost estimate for the project is $80 million, according to the release. The original number that had been floating through the rumor mill at the law school was $70 million, so it’s been bumped up a bit apparently. A huge lead gift can do that. Still, at either $70 or $80, we’re talking about some massive building cost inflation in a short time frame. The Dental School, which opened in 2002, cost $35 million. The Raynor Library, which opened in 2003, cost us $55 million. The Al McGuire Center, which opened in 2004, cost $31 million. Now, of the $80 million law school project, a lot of that is the 450 spot, three-story underground parking… the above ground Structure II cost us $13 million for 1,100 spaces. Still, it just strikes me that the cost of a building has doubled from 2002 to 2008.

3. A note on that point – it will be interesting to see how this change in parking affects the all-University parking plan (as a downtown, land-locked institution, parking is always a headache). I think attendance at Law School events will improve dramatically with on-site parking, for starters. If the law school has 100 employees, there goes a lot of parking right there. I’m not sure how many law students commute in every day, but between commuters and part-timers, it’s probably quite a number. We have 530 full-time and 150 part-time students – they probably already use 300 parking spots in the Wells St. Structure II right now – I wonder how those opened-up spots will be used….

4. The release said the school would build 52 faculty offices … there are currently 40 full-time faculty members. I don’t know if that means they are planning on expanding the size of the faculty by up to twelve, or they’re counting as occupying future “faculty offices” administrators like Mike Gousha, Career Planning, and the Asst. Dean for Public Service. I doubt that is the case, so I think they’re building with the capacity to expand the faculty.

5. “11 classrooms, 12 seminar/conference spaces of various sizes, and a Moot Courtroom…” There are currently (doing a mental walk through the law school building) nine classrooms by my count, and two conference rooms, Eisenberg Hall, and a Moot Courtroom, though the Courtroom is kinda small (compared to Northwestern’s, for instance). Again, the potential to expand the student body a little with more classrooms, which would be in line with an expansion of the faculty, but not a big increase. I will be interested to see the designs for the conference/seminar spaces, and how often they think they will be used…

6. The law school building will have a chapel, something our current building does not. Hoorah! (Though dated, see David Gregory’s article, ‘Where to Pray? A Survey Regarding Prayer Rooms in A.B.A. Accredited, Religiously Affiliated Law Schools,’ at 1993 B.Y.U.L. Rev. 1287.

7. “Julie Tolan, Marquette’s vice president for university advancement, said, ‘In light of the Ecksteins’ extraordinary gift, the university will undertake an accelerated effort to raise additional money by Dec. 31, 2007, in hopes of beginning construction of the new Law School facility next year.’” We still have a long way to go, folks. $51 million today, and $1 from the Bradley Foundation. “Kearney said a campaign will begin soon to raise the remainder of what is needed for the building and funds to support the law school itself. The campaign goal is more than $100 million, including the $80 million for the building.” For a school whose largest gift prior to today was $500,000, that is a LOT of money to go find. Good luck to the Dean and Fr. Wild – go get ‘em!

8. Our time-table is moving up some perhaps. The Journal Sentinel reported today that “They hope to break ground on the four-story structure next spring and move in by fall 2009.” When the Bradley gift came out, they reported “It’s not clear when construction on the building would start, but once it does, it should take 18 months, Kearney said. At the latest, he said, the new school would open by fall 2012.”

9. I am glad Fr. Wild has said we will keep Sensenbrenner Hall up. I hope they tear down the Law Library, which is rather ugly in my opinion, but Sensenbrenner is a great building, with Eisenberg Hall on the top and lots of ivy… it’s a pretty building I think, aged and sturdy. I’m glad we’ll keep it.

10. The architectural rendering released today: “The new building is likely to become Marquette’s most visible face for the public at large. At N. 11th and W. Clybourn streets, it will sit on open land at the northwest corner of the freeway interchange, which is one of Wisconsin’s most heavily traveled pieces of roadway. … The exterior is expected to include a large, curving wall of glass and masonry, following the curve of the Marquette Interchange, that Kearney described as noble, bold, harmonious, dramatic and confident.” (MJS)

Artist Rendering

I’ll reserve comment until I can see the other side, the brick one facing campus…

(For an interesting comparison, another Catholic law school, Villanova, is also doing a building project-check it out!)

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