Concordia law school hoped to add new affiliate to stay open. That plan has now unraveled.
Concordia University School of Law, which planned to reopen this fall as an affiliate of Concordia University St. Paul, has announced it will instead shut down.
Interim Dean Latonia Haney Keith informed students, faculty members and staff on Thursday afternoon that the law school’s original sponsor, Concordia University in Portland, and Concordia St. Paul could not reach a final agreement for the transfer.
“It’s incredibly disheartening for us today,” Haney Keith told the Idaho Statesman during an interview. “This was unforeseen and inexplicable in many respects. We were expecting to fully transition to St. Paul, but it unraveled in such a surprising way.”
In February, Concordia University in Portland announced it was closing due to financial troubles. The law school found a willing partner in Concordia University St. Paul and spent months working out a transfer agreement and obtaining approval from the American Bar Association and accrediting bodies.
The deal unraveled over the past few days. Haney Keith would not elaborate, saying due to pending litigation she couldn’t say anything.
“We really just are not able to provide details,” she said.
Hotchalk, a private California company that helped run Concordia Portland’s online education program, has sued the Portland school. It says Concordia owes $300 million.
Concordia St. Paul offered to buy the Boise campus for market value. But because of the lawsuit and liens placed on the property, Concordia Portland could not sell it.
“Concordia University St. Paul is deeply disappointed that our institution is unable to acquire the Concordia University Portland Law School in Boise,” the university said in a statement. “The parties worked diligently with a unified objective to transfer and maintain the Concordia law program.”
Concordia, which had annual revenues of $100 million, was one of Oregon’s largest nonprofits. At times, it was paying Hotchalk half of the money it was taking in, the Oregonian reported.
The Oregon Department of Justice is investigating Concordia over possible violations of the Oregon Nonprofit Corporations Act or other laws.
Designated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Concordia was given large tax breaks and was granted near-total exemption from income, sales and property taxes, the Portland newspaper reported. In exchange, the school was required to devote the bulk of its time and money to a charitable cause.
Can U of I’s law school help?
Can U of I’s law school help?
The University of Idaho has tentatively offered to admit Concordia’s 145 second- and third-year law students.
Back in 2014, when Concordia was unsuccessful in obtaining provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association, the U of I law school accepted 53 of Concordia’s students. Forty-two later graduated from U of I’s program.
“At the time, that was the largest single transfer of law students in the history of education,” Jerry Long, dean at the University of Idaho College of Law, said by phone. “Here, we’re talking about 145 students.”
Long said the University of Idaho would look first to Concordia’s law school staff for hiring added staff.
Concordia students could attend classes at the Idaho Water Center in downtown Boise, where the University of Idaho’s Boise campus is located. They could also transfer to the main campus in Moscow. He said the UI would also look to see whether it could use Concordia’s law school building on Front Street.
“If we can step up and help them out, that’s really what I hope to do,” Long said. “We’ll do everything we can to make it happen, but it’s definitely going to be a challenge.”
Adding the Concordia students would be a big increase in students for Idaho’s law program. The university has about 160 students each at its Moscow and Boise campuses.
Concordia had hoped to welcome an incoming first-year class of between 80 and 90 students. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the required Law School Admission Test was delayed and new students had not yet been admitted.
The Concordia law school, at 501 W. Front St., opened in fall 2012 with 75 students. The student population has since doubled. Students pay about $30,000 a year in tuition.
Haney Keith said it was unlikely the law school could be resurrected in the future.
“Starting a law school from scratch is an incredibly intense and costly process,” she said. “Unfortunately, going down that path again would require starting from scratch.”
This story was originally published June 25, 2020 at 2:35 PM.
