Summary: With declining enrollment and high tuition, University of Illinois’s new dean is attempting to cut costs, starting with his salary.
The new dean at University of Illinois College of Law, Vikram Amar will be making $324,900 a year. That salary is $1,500 less than the last dean at the school. The number is lower than some of Amar’s peers but still higher than national average.
He was working at University of California-Davis School of Law as a constitutional law and civil procedure professor. He has also been a top administrator in academic affairs. Amar, brother to Yale law professor Akhil Reed Amar, wants to do his part to keep law school affordable. In his statement he acknowledges that “great law schools require great personnel and programs, both of which cost money” but that those that can should what they can to help keep law school in reach for everyone, no matter their background.
The University of Illinois College of Law enrollment numbers have been declining for the past four years, at a total of 20 percent. The number of applications they received last year was around a third of what they received in 2011. To top it off, out-of-state tuition has increased by $3,500.
The previous dean, Bruce P. Smith hasn’t left the school at its strongest either. The ABA fined and censured the school for inaccurate LSAT information on their entering classes during a seven year time frame. A number of law schools were caught cheating in some form, forcing the ABA to change the way they collect and report data from law schools.
Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2015/07/06/incoming-law-dean-says-he-demanded-pay-cut-before-taking-job/
Photo: law.illinois.edu
Profile: law.ucdavis.edu