Shortly after Bill Monat became acting president of NIU in 1978, he was approached by representatives of Lewis University, a private institution headquartered in Romeoville with a new law school located in the western suburb of Glen Ellyn. The Lewis University College of Law was just four years old, had just received provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association, and had just graduated its first class of 218 new lawyers.
But in order to meet ABA requirements for full accreditation, Lewis would have to make $4 million worth of improvements – an expenditure looked upon by their main campus as too big a financial risk for the institution. Thus in 1978, Lewis was looking to transfer the college to a suitable institution.
NIU had been discussing establishment of a law school since the Holmes administration. It would be an excellent addition to numerous programs in the colleges of Business and Liberal Arts and Sciences, it was thought, and there were no other public law schools in northern Illinois outside of Chicago. It seemed like a perfect solution.
But the Illinois Board of Higher Education thought otherwise. The IBHE rejected the merger proposal, forcing NIU and Lewis to take their case to the legislature.
In the midst of lobbying for the law school transfer, Bill Monat had to take time away to be formally installed as NIU’s eighth president on April 20, 1979. Called “All University Day,” events included a luncheon and formal dedication of the new library. Gov. Jim Thompson agreed to attend if all involved agreed to not mention the law school legislation.
At the end of the afternoon installation ceremony, Father Robert Hoffman, pastor of the NIU Newman Center (who clearly had not gotten the memo), gave a benediction that ended with “And Lord, bless the president as he strives to attain the law school at Northern.” Two thousand voices responded, “Amen!”
When Thompson was later asked about the law school by media in attendance, he raised his arms to the skies and said “With help from above, you don’t need any more support!”
In the end, the legislature approved the merger and Thompson signed the bill. The NIU College of Law remained at its leased Glen Ellyn location until completion of renovations to the south wing of Swen Parson Hall in 1982.
In the meantime, NIU launched a national search for a dean, resulting in the appointment in 1981 of NIU’s first law dean, Leonard P. Strickman of the Boston College Law School.
Strickman took the many challenges of physically moving a law school in hand, and shepherded the new college to full ABA accreditation a year earlier than expected. As one ABA inspector reported, “Strickman has by every measure and account turned a failing institution into one on the ascendancy.”
In a little more than a decade, the NIU College of Law began showing up in national rankings. By 1996, U.S. News and World Report’s annual guidebook listed the NIU College of Law as first in the nation for graduates pursuing careers in government. By 1997, the Princeton Review also ranked NIU as number one in the number of graduates seeking jobs in public interest law.
Click on photos to enlarge
