Domino's Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan stepped closer yesterday to his vision of creating "a West Point for Catholicism and the law," unveiling the temporary home of his new law school.
The Ave Maria School of Law, scheduled to open next year, will use the former headquarters of NSF International, a locally based public health company. Ave Maria officials hope to build a permanent campus here in four or five years.
A $4 million renovation of the site already has begun and is scheduled for completion in August 2000, the same month a class of 40 to 50 students will begin instruction .
"Putting law and ethics in the same sentence is phenomenal," said Monaghan, who last year sold nearly all of Domino's to a Boston investment capital firm. "So much of the leadership of our country has legal training. I think you need a West Point for Catholicism and law."
Monaghan is putting $50 million of his fortune - estimated at $600 million in 1998 by Forbes magazine - into the project.
Monaghan said that since he is not a legal scholar, he will not have a hand in developing the school's curriculum.
"When I bought the Detroit Tigers in 1983, I left the decisions up to (former manager) Sparky Anderson," he said. "I stayed out of the dugout and the locker room."
"And a year later, they won the World Series," James Ryan, a board member and federal judge, added with a smile.
Another board member, Helen Alvare, said she expects the law school to have similar success because many people are looking for attorneys guided by strong morals.
"What they want are lawyers who are looking for what is morally and ethically right, beyond the rule of law," she said.
The school's required courses include a traditional legal curriculum, with classes in torts, tax law and constitutional law. But students also are required to take two years of a course called "Moral Foundations of the Law," scheduled to be taught by one-time U.S. Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.
In addition, the curriculum promises the infusion of Catholic teaching in all classes. For example, criminal law courses will discuss Catholic teachings on capital punishment, while constitutional law will incorporate Catholic positions on human rights.
Ave Maria administrators say they have numerous details to address in the next year, including filing for state certification, collecting 100,000 volumes for the law library and selecting the school's first class.
Dean Bernard Dobranski says there already have been more than 300 inquiries from people in 39 states, even though the application process hasn't yet begun.
"We intend to be a national law school that attracts a national student body," Dobranski said. "The kind of students we want to select will have a number of good opportunities at other accredited law schools."
The school's leadership also is working to build its reputation in the legal community. In November, it will host the first of an annual lecture series with a keynote speech by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
"Being in the same city as University of Michigan's law school, considered one of the country's most prestigious, will create a neighborly competition," said board member Gerard Bradley, a Notre Dame law professor.
"I would imagine not only will we compete for the best students, but also engage in respectful disagreement. Lawyers love to argue."
09-10-99
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