The law school and the Leg

Are some problems at the FAMU law school rooted in unrealistic enrollment goals set by the Legislature? Yes, some faculty members have concluded, according to the American Bar Association site team report that was the basis for this story in today's St. Petersburg Times.

"The Self-Study makes clear that one of the factors driving the admissions decisions is the legislative mandate that the Law School reach an enrollment of 750," the report says. "The faculty and administration believe that this would not be in the best interest of the Law School and report that they intend to see if a lower enrollment target of 650 students might be acceptable to the Legislature."

The self-study describes the challenges that come when many law students don't have academic credentials "as strong as would be desirable," and recounts efforts faculty have made to respond to low bar passage rates, including a tougher grading curve and increased attrition. "The Report is candid about the clumsy and ill conceived manner in which the latter two steps were taken, leading to widespread student complaints," the site team wrote.

The report includes a ton of interesting information that couldn't be squeezed into the Times story. To see it in full, click here. To read FAMU's response to the ABA report, click here and here. And to read more about the accreditation process, click here.

- Ron Matus, state education reporter

Comments

Why is UF still stuck in such obvious financial mismanagement? Why myUFL such a mess? Why is the university overspending by millions in the College of Liberal Arts & Science?

The taxpayers of Florida deserve better!

Why is FAMU still stuck in a one race past? Are we not in the 21st century? FAMU is still in the "dark" ages. Come on FAMU come join everyone in the 21st century!

The state auditors said the $7.4M wasn't properly accounted. The auditors know what they're talking about; you don't. Stop making excuses for UCF's bad audit findings.

The Rattlers ran off the interim president who didn't follow the rules regarding the spending of the $39M. However, where's the accountability at UF for problems with myUFL that resulted in the university failing to properly report how it spent HALF A BILLION dollars in federal money?

UF's financial mismanagement is far worst than anything that's happening at FAMU.

The 7.4 is accounted for, unlike the 40 odd million that disappeared.

I think the bigger question is why FAMU clings to a Jim Crow past. Look where it has taken the school. It is the least respected institution in the state. The best and brightest black minds go to other schools, and a recent report state that FSU is doing a far more better job at educating young black minds than any other school including FAMU. The HBCU, hysterically black college and university is failing and is a waste of taxpayer money. The school promotes a one race agenda which is not productive, nor acceptable in the 21st century.

UCF's own student newspaper, Central Florida Future, reported the list of bad findings from UCF's 2008 audit. Here's just one snippet from the 13 problems the state auditors found:

"Several findings involved the university assessing fees and transferring funds without having legal authority for its actions. According to the audit, the university loaned $7.4 million to the UCF Athletics Association Inc. in violation of Florida statutes. There is not yet a plan as to how that money will be paid back."

http://media.www.centralfloridafuture.com/media/storage/paper174/news/2008/03/17/News/13.Financial.Problems.Identified.In.08.Audit-3270856.shtml

When is UCF going to pay back the $7.4M it owes? Why weren't the rules followed?

The root of the problem is having a state-funded university that's a "historically (insert racial group) college" in 2008. Look at the stark contrast between the university profiles of the SUS....Most are very diverse and the one is not (FAMU). It's 2008. Time to move forward. FAMU provided vital opportunities in the late 1800s and through much of the 1900s...but it is becoming more and more of a relic.

The budget for the coming year is going to force the states hand. With money being extremely scarce they will be forced to sell the assets of the school, or UCF will have to be the states "knight" in shinning armor. UCF has proven that they can compete. Let UCF manage this asset.

Aha - the conspiracist strikes again. Unlike the repetitive bloke who posted at 03:34 PM, 04:51 PM, 06:44 PM, and, yes, also at 06:49 PM, (and gee, not counting all the other similar past diatribes from them on this blog, aimed primarily at UF (REM - the Pharmacy School Wars)) I am not talking about UF and UCF because that is not the point. The point is the FAMU COL and their missteps.

This article and the ABA’s report are right on the money - one of FAMU's problems is an unrealistic enrollment goal. Because of their population drive, in 2006 FAMU admitted many students who were likely to fail, took their money and time to pump up enrollment, and then showed them the door. Three words describe how FAMU acted – in bad faith. Shame on you, FAMU.

Unfortunately, FAMU wasn’t satisfied with just one ethical stumble. Look at the similar LSAT scores and distributions for the 2006 and 2007 entering classes contained in the ABA’s report. It's a recipe for failure. Can you guess what's going to happen to a sizeable minority of the 1L class who just finished their first year? Any bets on the failure rate for them? FAMU COL is mimicking the directions on a shampoo bottle - lather, rinse, repeat. I am so sorry for you, class of 2010. It’s not right.

Aha - the conspiracist strikes again. Unlike the repetitive bloke who posted at 03:34 PM, 04:51 PM, 06:44 PM, and, yes, also at 06:49 PM, (and gee, not counting all the other similar past diatribes from them on this blog, aimed primarily at UF (REM - the Pharmacy School Wars)) I am not talking about UF and UCF because that is not the point. The point is the FAMU COL and their missteps.

This article and the ABA’s report are right on the money - one of FAMU's problems is an unrealistic enrollment goal. Because of their population drive, in 2006 FAMU admitted many students who were likely to fail, took their money and time to pump up enrollment, and then showed them the door. Three words describe how FAMU acted – in bad faith. Shame on you, FAMU.

Unfortunately, FAMU wasn’t satisfied with just one ethical stumble. Look at the similar LSAT scores and distributions for the 2006 and 2007 entering classes contained in the ABA’s report. It's a recipe for failure. Can you guess what's going to happen to a sizeable minority of the 1L class who just finished their first year? Any bets on the failure rate for them? FAMU COL is mimicking the directions on a shampoo bottle - lather, rinse, repeat. I am so sorry for you, class of 2010. It’s not right.

[UCFSuccess]

The audit you posted in 5 years old, but still, the issues are relatively minor. The issues specified in that report are all just being a little late on collecting payments, not forgetting to do it altogether, and relatively minor stuff that isn't going to have a huge affect on the university as a whole, unlike the issues in this report. Many of the issues mentioned in the report quickly led to revised policies to fix them.

There are going to be some mistakes when you're dealing with some of the largest universities in the nation (UF and UCF are both in the top 6), but the issues shouldn't be huge and worthy of the school failing to retrieve accreditation, its primary goal. Most faculty at UCF and UF feel they CAN get their job done, there isn't a large amount of them leaving, etc.

Take a look at how UCF is dealing with the addition of their new medical school. They are not just trying to do the minimum for accreditation, they are clearly going above and beyond with the goal of having a VERY high quality med school, giving the entire first class a full scholarship, something that has NEVER been done before. FAMU had its chance, and is showing nothing special is going to be done with our tax dollars, let alone if it even gets accredited... now lets give UCF the opportunity to show how its done. It is in Orlando near other facilties anyways, I don't understand why they tried to give this to FAMU in the first place. Maybe if they get their school in better shape and aren't on probation for the entire school, they can try again in the future.

The UCF and UF supporters talking about FAMU need to own up to the problems at their own universities.

UF received $580,426,350 in federal money in 2005.

http://www.fedspending.org/faads/faads.php?recip_id=901167&sortby=u&detail=-1&datype=T&reptype=r&database=faads&fiscal_year=2005&submit=GO

The state auditors said UF "had not developed and tested a methodology to extract data from the myUFL systems required to produce a schedule of expenditures of Federal awards."

There should be a federal investigation into why myUFL can't produce a proper report on how the university spends $580,426,350.

Looks like there are some posters who are in denial are the state auditors wrong?

Why is UCF late in billing for services?

Why are UCF purchasing cards being used for excessive buying?

Why did UCF workers break the rules when paying for parties?

Why did the auditors find "questionable costs" at UCF?

UCF needs to clean up its own financial mess before it starts talking about FAMU.

If UCF could not account for 44 million dollars and have an extensive history of zero accountability I think you might have a point, but you don't.

FAMU is a joke of institution and everyone in the state knows it!

It looks like UCF has it's own problems to fix. Care to explain these?

http://www.myflorida.com/audgen/pages/summaries/2004-037.htm

Report Number: 2004-037
Report Title: University of Central Florida – Operational Audit
Report Period: 01/01/2002 Through 12/31/2002 and Selected Transactions Through 03/31/2003
Release Date: 09/09/2003

Finding No. 1: The University Arena had not billed users for three of the nine events we reviewed until 7 to 11 weeks after the events were held.

Finding No. 2: The University collected approximately $338,000 in credit card usage fees contrary to its credit card agreement with the bank.

Finding No. 3: Purchasing cards were sometimes issued with excessively large single-purchase and monthly spending limits. Additionally, spending limit increases were not always supported by written authorization.

Finding No. 4: Payments for staff parties and receptions were paid from campus concession funds contrary to University procedures.

Finding No. 5: The return of unused travel advances and the filing of travel reimbursement vouchers were not always timely.

Finding No. 6: The University Police Department leased eight vehicles based on incomplete information presented in its lease‑purchase analysis.

Finding No 7: The University paid questionable costs, including construction bonuses and training expenses, relating to the Academic Villages student housing project. Reimbursable costs for equipment rentals may also have been excessive. Certificates of substantial completion and other inspection forms were not available for all of the project’s buildings.

Finding No. 8: Numerous salary warrants were cancelled or refunded because personnel action forms were not correctly prepared or timely processed, and because payroll data was not correctly recorded and certified.

Finding No. 9: University departments did not document the completion of exit procedures to ensure that terminating employees had returned all property and settled outstanding accounts prior to the issuance of final salary payments.

Let UCF run the school. With tight budgets our tax money would be better spent under the guidance of another up in coming school like UCF.