HOUSTON
Texas A&M University should drop its affiliation with the private South Texas College of Law and instead get permission to establish its own law school, higher education officials say.
"A&M cannot have a law school at this time," said Leonard Rauch, chairman of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. "I know they think they have a law school. But they have gone around the coordinating board and they need our permission."
Texas A&M and South Texas officials signed a deal in January giving A&M a law school without building or buying one, while giving South Texas faculty and graduates better name recognition without moving the school from downtown Houston. A&M officials had told Rauch and other coordinating board members about the negotiations.
University officials also planned to ask the coordinating board for permission to issue law degrees, meaning South Texas diplomas could bear the A&M seal.
But Rauch said late last month that the terms of the A&M-South Texas alliance should have been approved by his board before the law school started calling itself South Texas College of Law of Texas A&M University and used that name in advertisements
Officials at Texas A&M are considering the wishes of Rauch and others, according to Barry Thompson, A&M system chancellor.
"The talks are in a fragile state," Thompson said, "but we're not going to violate any laws. We intend to proceed to some kind of accommodation so that we are within the lines."
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