Save the SMU Dedman Law Quad - Oppose the Relocation Plan

Blake Norvell

As a graduate of SMU, I feel that the Law School belongs on campus, where it has always been. The law school and its students are an important part of the SMU community and they need to be on the main campus. KEEP SMU LAW ON CAMPUS!!!

Proud SMU Dedman Law School Graduate 1984 - let’s retain and enhance the historic Law Quadrangle at SMU.

I sit on student senate, we sent Jay Hartzell everyone’s discontented emotions and he essentially brushed us off and told us it was for the greater good and we must think about long term planning. Well Jay, how do you plan on having long-term developmental goals when the large majority of your donors, students, professors, and esteemed scholars all share the same opinion on this matter.

SMU Law Alum

The current Law school Campus is iconic. Easily the most “law school” feeling campus in Texas. Getting rid of that would get rid of the soul of the school. Aesthetics drive learning. Human beings have known this for thousands of years. It is only until recently that we want to destroy beautiful buildings for the sake of efficiency. While it may make sense on a balance sheet, you will lose something that is priceless. No one wants this. No students want this. Set an example. Value what truly matters more than what matters in boardrooms.

Please don't erase our history! It will devalue the law school and hurt all of us alums.

From an SMU law AND UT alum, do better, Jay Hartzell.

save the quad

SMU Law Alum

This seems like a bad idea. Being real, law students don't attend a law school simply for the quality of instruction. They do want beautiful environments that make them feel like they'll go on to be John Grisham-type lawyers. It's not really good enough to put them in a crummy high rise. That law quad was designed to be a law quad, and it needs to remain a law quad. Future generations should get it as good as I did, so please re-think.

This move would severely damage the law school's reputation. What a terrible decision!

As an active alum of SMU Dedman School of Law, I vehemently oppose this proposed demolition.

Class of 2012. Moving the law school to a sterile, office-tower environment will gut the school's character and appeal, driving down student quality, enrollment, and school prestige. Walking in the Quad imbues students with a sense of tradition and pride, and the campus evokes the old-world charm of the country's most historic, and prestigious, universities. Throw everything into an office tower, though, and SMU's law school becomes just another generic program. Improve what's there, but never take it away.

Being on the main campus is a major pull factor for students across the country, it seems very unwise to get rid of what people are coming here for!

2016 grad. The quad is beautiful, special, and iconic. You alienate so many alumni.

This would destroy and force SMU Law to recreate its entire personality.

For over a century, Dedman Law School has served as a vital bridge between SMU’s undergraduate and graduate communities on the main campus. Demolishing and relocating it would not only weaken the pipeline between aspiring and current law students, but also threaten SMU’s ability to reinforce its reputation as a leading institution. B.A., '24

Class of 2022

Student

Seems underhanded and unwise. -J.D. Class of '20.