Post on 29-Apr-2023
The “Law Department” of Dickinson College
Mark W. Podvia
On June 8, 1833, the Honorable John Reed, President Judge of
the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas, wrote a letter to
the Trustees of Dickinson College in which he proposed opening a
law school under his tutelage that would have “some nominal
connection with the College.”1 The College Trustees thereafter
adopted a resolution establishing “a professorship of law...in
connection with the College.”2 The resolution provided that
“[t]his professor is not to be considered as a member of the
Faculty of the College” and that there was to be “no expense to
the College arising out of the establishment” of the law
department.3 Those completing the course of study were to
receive “an appropriate diploma” from the College.4 Regular
students of the College were also permitted to “attend the
lectures of the law professor.”5 Judge Reed was unanimously
selected by the Board of Trustees to fill the newly-created post.
Judge’s Reed’s first student, Alfred Nevin, registered
on April 1, 1834.6 Law classes were not held on the College
campus, but were instead held in the basement of Judge Reed’s
High Street home.7 The name “The Dickinson School of Law” does
not appear in any of the surviving correspondence. John Reed
referred to the Law School as being the “Law Department” of the
College.8 The School was informally referenced by some as “the
Reed Law School.”9 Judge Reed died in January, 1850, and the
teaching of law at Dickinson College ceased.10
In 1862, Dickinson College awarded an honorary Doctor
of Laws degree to the Honorable James Hutchison Graham, President
Judge of the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas, and
appointed him as Professor of Law.11 There is some question as
to how seriously Graham took his teaching duties. The Dickinsonian
of February 3, 1874, noted that “[w]e were inclined to think this
an empty department, and the name put there to fill up.”12 However,
in 1874 Graham apparently did teach a course in Blackstone, so
there was at least a limited amount of legal instruction at
Dickinson College during this period.13 The College’s Chair of
Professor of Law was not filled following Graham’s death in
1882.14
Eight years later, on January 9, 1890, Dickinson
College’s new president, the Rev. Dr. George Reed, recommended to
the College’s Board that “the President and Executive Committee
be authorized to establish a law school in connection with the
College if it can be done without expense to the institution.”15
The College Trustees approved the recommendation, and a Board of
Incorporators was selected.
On February 19, 1890, articles incorporating “the Dickinson
School of Law” as an independent organization were filed in the
Cumberland County Courthouse.16 However, until 1911 the law
school was indirectly united with Dickinson College through the
person of the Rev. Dr. George Edward Reed, who served as
president of both schools,17 an arrangement that continued under
Reed’s successor, Dr. Eugene Noble.
There has been some debate as to why the Law School was
incorporated as a separate institution. Spahr later wrote that
“the original College charter was broad enough to authorize a law
school or any other professional school.”18 It has been
suggested that the separate charter came about because of a long-
standing feud between the Biddle and Sadler families or because
Dean Trickett had previously served on the College faculty and
later sued the school. Boyd Lee Spahr later wrote that
“[p]robably it was due to the desire of old Judge [Wilber] Sadler
and of Dean Trickett to have control of the matter in their own
hands and Dr. Reed was not familiar with legal procedure and the
ensuing results.”19 However, it might also have been because of
concerns over money; Reed’s original recommendation required that
the Law School was not to be an “expense” to the College.
Despite being separate institutions, the two schools
cooperated in a number of areas for many years—an outsider could
easily assume that the Law School was part and parcel of
Dickinson College. Even the College newspaper made that error;
when the Law School first opened, the Dickinsonian, referred to it
as “a new department in Dickinson College.”20 The Law School
occupied a College building, Emory Hall, rent-free from 1890 to
1918.21 Graduates of “respectable colleges” who graduated from
the Law School were eligible for the degree of Master of Arts in
cursu from the college.22 Dickinson College students were
eligible for a program that allowed them to complete degree
requirements at both schools in six years.23 The schools, along
with the college’s preparatory school, Conway Hall, published a
joint catalogue until 1912.24 The schools shared a yearbook, The
Microcosm, until 1923.25 Law students played on college athletic
teams for many years; indeed, the 1900 Dickinson football team
that defeated Penn State 18-0 included four law students.26 The
schools held joint commencement programs until 1952.27 Law
students paid a mandatory $5.00 athletic fee to the College until
at least 1969.28 Spahr later summed up this ongoing cooperation,
writing that “[i]n view of the fact that so many privileges are
granted to students of the Law School, and for other reasons, we
believe a closer relationship between the two institutions is
quiet essential.”29
Following Reed’s departure in 1911, college officials
expressed concern about the continued existence of the Law School
as an independent entity. A report, presumably submitted to the
College trustees by President Eugene Noble, who seceded Reed as
president, noted that “The College allows the use of its name by
an organization over which it has absolutely no control, and this
seems to me the proper time to raise the question as to the
continuance of this condition.”30 Dr. Noble thereafter announced
—as was already noted—that beginning in 1912 the two schools
would publish separate catalogues. This announcement, along with
other rumors, caused considerable local consternation. The
Carlisle Evening Herald wrote of the break between the two schools:
Rumors of a split between the Dickinson School of Law and Dickinson college, both located in this city, have stimulated great efforts on the parts of the friends ofboth these institution to prevent a crisis, and it is hoped by them that if any friction has recently been created between these two institutions of learning, that it will be smoothed out in a satisfactory manner. It is reported that announcement was made this week to a class of the law school by a member of its facultythat if the Law School students were refused permissionto use the athletic field of the college, or denied places on the college athletic teams, the Law school would establish its own field and own sports, apart from the college, and that abundant means would be provided for this purpose.31
The newspaper also reported that “the graduating class of
the law school probably will not attend the baccalaureate service
of the college and Conway Hall,” noting that “[i]t would be a
source of general regret, friends declare, if there should be any
permanent alienation between these two institutions.”32
Dr. Noble immediately wrote the newspaper’s editor, calling
the article “incorrect and misleading.”33 He informed the editor
that “[s]erious efforts are being made by Dickinson College to
establish closer and tenable relations with the Law School” and
that “similar efforts are also being made by the Law School.”
However, he clearly stated that “[t]here is no organic
1 Burton R. Laub, The Dickinson School of Law: Proud and Independent (Carlisle: Dickinson School of Law, 1983), 11. JudgeReed’s original letters, now in very delicate condition, are preserved in the Law School’s archives.2 Ibid., 12.3 Ibid.4 Ibid.5 Ibid.6 Nevin never practiced law but did gain considerable fame as Presbyterian theologian. A chaplin with the Union Army during the Civil War, he authored numerous books and was editor of Encyclopædia of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America: Including the Northern and Southern Assemblies (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Encyclopædia Publishing Co., 1884).7 Reed’s house survives today as the home of the President of Dickinson College.8 Laub, The Dickinson School of Law, 25.9 “Dickinson Law School,” Dickinsonian, XVIII (October 1890), 17.10 Reed is buried in Carlisle’s Old Public Graveyard.11 Cumberland County Bar Foundation, Cumberland Justice: Legal Practice in Cumberland County, 1750-2000, (Carlisle: Cumberland County Bar Foundation, 2001), 47.12 “Our Law Department,” Dickinsonian, 3 February 1874, p. 37.13 Ibid.14 Graham, like Reed, was also buried in Carlisle’s Old Public Graveyard.15 Laub, The Dickinson School of Law, 15.16 The Original Law School Charter is reproduced in Laub, The Dickinson School of Law, 184. The Charter was amended in 1941. In the original Charter the name of the school is listed as “The Dickinson School of Law” with “The” being capitalized, probably
connection between the two institutions at the present time. To
put it in another way, the Law School is not a department of
Dickinson College.” Not surprisingly, shortly thereafter the
Evening Herald reported that “[a]ll friction that existed recently
because it fell at the beginning of a line. In the 1941 Amended Charter the school’s name is listed as “Dickinson School of Law” without “The.”17 The presidency of the law school was offered by the law school’s Board of Incorporators to Reed’s successor, Eugene A. Noble. He initially declined the position, seeing “little reasonand less right” to it “until the Law School is a part of the college.” Eugene A. Noble to William Trickett, 5 March 1912, Record Group 13, File Folder 1, Dickinson School of Law/DickinsonCollege Correspondence 1912-1943, Archives, Dickinson School of Law. However, he later wrote Trickett “to accept the election and render the service to the law school.” Noble to Trickett, 29May 1913, Record Group 13, File Folder 1, Dickinson School of Law/Dickinson College Correspondence 1912-1943.18 Boyd Lee Spahr to Gilbert Malcolm, Treasurer, Dickinson College, 15 November 1945, File Folder 8-20, Law School Relationswith College, 1-11-1933-11-15-1945. Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence.19 Boyd Lee Spahr to Dr. Fred P. Corson, 29 July 1936, File Folder8-20, Law School Relations with College, 1-11-1933-11-15-1945, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence, Archives, Dickinson College. Spahr used similar language more than nine years later in a letter to the Treasurer of Dickinson College, Gilbert Malcolm, writing that “I think the truth probably is that old Judge Sadler and Dr. Trickett put their heads together and decided that they wanted the law school to be practically independent, especially in view of Trickett’s unfortunate experience in the College faculty about twelve years before, and that they put it across with Dr. Reed, who perhaps failed to realize that a separate charter was unnecessary.” Boyd Lee Spahrto Gilbert Malcolm, 15 November 1945, File Folder 8-20, Law
between two of Carlisle’s institution of learning, Dickinson
College and the Dickinson School of Law, passed the crisis
Saturday, and these two corporate bodies are now more closely
allied than in years past.”34
School Relations with College, 1-11-1933-11-15-1945, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence, Archives, Dickinson College.20 “Dickinson Law School,” Dickinsonian, October 1890, p. 16.21 The Law School maintained the building and paid the college forthe cost of heating it, but paid no other rent.22 This arrangement lasted until 1927, when Dickinson College stopped awarding the M.A. degree.23 That cooperative program remains in effect today. http://www.dickinson.edu/info/20211/career_center/639/pre-law_33_program.24 Eugene A. Noble to William Trickett, 12 January 1912, Record Group 13, File Folder 1, Dickinson School of Law/Dickinson College Correspondence 1912-1916, Archives, The Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University.25 The manner in which the Microcosm referred to the Law School varied over the year. As examples, with not all years being represented, the Law School’s portion of the yearbook was variously captioned as “The Law School” (1891 and 1907), “Dickinson School of Law” (1896, 1898, 1903, and 1912), The School of Law (1900), “Law Department” (1913) and “Department of Law” (1909, 1911, and 1917). The Law School began publishing itsown year book, the Commentator, in 1925.26 An undergraduate degree was not required to attend the law school until the 1960s; law students who had not graduated from college were, therefore, eligible to play undergraduate sports. That arrangement died out as the number of law students possessing undergraduate degrees increased. In 1946, Spahr wrotethat “[t]hat particular situation has now disappeared as the students at the Law School are all graduates of some college or other.” “Memorandum re Dickinson School of Law,” May 15, 1946, File Folder 8-21, Law School Relations with College, 1-2-1946-10-
Graduates of both these schools, and of Carlisle, aremore than pleased with the outcome of the tangle, whichhas been given as little publicity as possible, and itis believed that all matters have been smoothed out ina satisfactory manner to all concerned.35
However, the question of a merger between the two
institutions had not been worked out. In a letter dated April
26, 1912, Dr. Noble informed Dean Trickett that “[a]s I have gone
over the matter a few difficulties have presented themselves to
15-1951, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence. 27 The Law School’s Commencement ceremonies were thereafter moved to its newly-constructed dormitory, the Sadler Curtilage.28 Edward J. Benett, “Editorial: A $5.00 Fee for Nothing,” Bill ofParticulars (20 March 1968), 2.29 Untitled, File Folder 8-19, Law School Relations with College, c. 1913-1932, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence.30 “Law School,” Record Group 13, File Folder 1, Dickinson School of Law/Dickinson College Correspondence 1912-1916. It should be noted that the name “The Dickinson School of Law” was granted to the Law School by order of the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas, not by the College. Further, John Dickinson—who served aspresident of both Delaware and Pennsylvania and who refused to sign the Declaration of Independence but did sign the Articles ofConfederation and whose name appears on the United States Constitution—is a public figure, therefore Dickinson College never had exclusive rights to the use of his name.31 “Rumored Split with Law School Arouses Friends of College,” Carlisle Evening Herald, 22 May 1912, p. 1.32 Ibid. 33 Eugene A. Noble to the Editor of the Carlisle Evening Herald, 24 May 1912, Record Group 13, File Folder 1, Dickinson School of Law/Dickinson College Correspondence 1912-1916.34 “Law School Joins in Baccalaureate,” Carlisle Evening Herald, 22 May1912, p. 1.35 Ibid.
my thinking, but none of them are serious,” and that a merger
would allow the Law School “to go on without break or halt for
many years to come.”36 He also suggested that the Law School
should adopt a new name:
As I have thought over the matter, it has seemed to me highly desirable to change the name of the Law School if the amalgamation is to be made. Under its present name, “The Dickinson School of Law,” no mention is or should be made, of the College, although the college catalog repeatedly refers to it as the Law School of Dickinson College. It would seem to me better to leavethe Dickinson name out of the title of the school, and then in a kind of sub-title to refer to the Law School as a department of the college. I would like to suggest a new and appropriate name for the Law School, although I feel certain that you will oppose the suggestion for the time being. For many good reasons Ishould like to see it called “THE WILLIAM TRICKETT SCHOOL OF LAW: The Law Department of Dickinson College.”37
On June 9, 1913, the joint committee representing Dickinson
College and the Dickinson School of Law presented the following
report: 36 Eugene A. Noble to William Trickett, 26 April 1912, Record Group 13, File Folder 1, Dickinson School of Law/Dickinson College Correspondence 1912-1916.37 Ibid. Dean Trickett was said to have been a very humble man andundoubtedly would have opposed having the Law School named in hishonor; Dr. Noble ended his letter by advising that “before you finally oppose the use of the name which I have intimated, ask a few of your friends what they think of it.”
[T]hat the Dickinson School of Law by an appropriate by-law of the Board of Trustees of Dickinson College bemade the law department of Dickinson College under the following regulations:(a) That the gentlemen composing the present Board of Incorporators of the Dickinson School of Law be appointed by the Trustees of Dickinson College as a Board of Overseers of said law department of Dickinson College with the right to elect their own successors. That the said Board of Overseers have essentially thesame authority in the management of the law department and in the selection of its faculty as is now vested inthe Incorporators of the Dickinson School of Law and that a Committee composed of President Noble, Dean Trickett, Lewis S. Sadler, Esq., Charles J. Hepburn Esq., and Boyd Lee Spahr, Esq., be appointed by the Trustees of Dickinson College to formulate regulations for the law department. (c) That the income of the law department be expendedin the upkeep of the law department under the supervision of Dean Trickett, and that President Noble and Dean Trickett be authorized to make definite arrangements for the expenses of the Law School as a department of the College.38
In June 1913, the resolution was concurrently adopted by the
Law School’s Board of Incorporators and the Dickinson College
Board of Trustees.39 At a meeting held on February 27, 1914 in
Philadelphia, the College Board was informed that “[t]he
38 “Exert of minutes from the annual meeting,” Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence, File Folder 8-19, Law School Relationswith College, c. 1913-1932.
Committee on Dickinson School of Law report[s] progress.”40
Despite this, it appears that the marriage of the two schools was
never consummated; the Law School’s Board of Incorporators was
never designated by the College trustees as a Board of Overseers
of the Law Department.
According to a letter written to Dr. Noble by Dean Trickett,
it appears that this was because of concerns regarding the
appointment of Law School faculty:
The committee appointed last June, was appointed not to repeal the by-law by which it was created, but to “formulate regulations” in subordination thereto. An attempt by that Committee to lessen the powers concededto the Incorporators over the selection of their faculty, would be ultra vires, and I would find it impossible to participate in it. Should the Committee usurp this power, I am sure thatits act would be repudiated by the Law School. The Law School could not have consented to the by-lawwhich defined its powers, had its supposed that a committee of five gentlemen appointed by the College could filch from it any or all of these powers, so carefully stipulated for. The Law School has thus far striven to conform to theJune treaty. It has also paid the athletic fee, in expectation that a fair agreement should be reached concerning its participation in the management of
39 Report to the Executive Committee of the Trustees of Dickinson College by the subcommittee of the Dickinson School of Law, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence, File Folder 8-19, Law SchoolRelations with College, c. 1913-1932. 40 Ibid.
athletics. A plan has been submitted to the College Faculty, thoroughly discussed by them, and, as I believe, approved by them. By some influence this agreement has been suspended for months. This policy, by whatever motive dictated, will, if persisted in, compel, I doubt not, the abandonment of the expectationof cordial cooperation with respect to athletics between the two groups of students, and the two faculties. I respectfully urge that the school is getting along well and doing its work satisfactorily, despite the action by the Committee. I think the wellfare [sic] ofboth College an [sic] School will be best promoted by loyal and sincere adherence to the compact that was concluded last June. Any other policy, I am sure, willinvite disaster.41
There the correspondence regarding the issue ends. Trickett
asked Dr. Noble “not to continue the correspondence by letter,”
suggesting that they meet “to talk over this and all other
correspondence.”42
The reason for the college’s failure to thereafter act
on the resolution can perhaps be attributed to a change in the
administration at Dickinson College. In 1914, Dr. J.H. Morgan
replaced Dr. Noble as president of the College. Spahr later
wrote that Dr. Morgan “was not overenthusiastic” about the
41 William Trickett to Dr. Eugene A. Noble, 4 March 1914, Record Group 13, File Folder 1, Dickinson School of Law/Dickinson College Correspondence 1912-1916.42 Ibid.
merger, noting that he “regarded the Law School and perhaps
lawyers generally with somewhat of a jaundiced eye.”43 Spahr
also later suggested that the fault might also lie with
Pennsylvania Justice John Kephart of the Law School Board, who
Spahr said “was opposed to the surrender of their [the law
school’s] separate charter.”44
In April, 1916, Dr. Morgan sent Dean Trickett a
“Tentative Suggestion for Closer Relations between Dickinson
College and Dickinson School of Law,” in which he wrote that
“[i]t does not seem that the time is yet ripe for such change.”45
Dean Trickett’s response was incredulous:
43 Boyd Lee Spahr to Dr. William W. Edel, November 22, 1954, File Folder 8-22, Law School Relations with College, 1-17-1952 -12-30-1958, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence. Spahr was in evenmore blunt in a letter dated March 21, 1946, writing that Morgan “never liked the Law School anyway.” Boyd Lee Spahr to E.M. Biddle, Jr., Esq., File Folder 8-20, Law School Relations with College, 1-2-1946-10-15-1951.44 Letter from Spahr to Edel, November 22, 1954, File Folder 8-22, Law School Relations with College, 1-17-1952 -12-30-1958, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence,.45 “Tentative Suggestion for Closer Relations between Dickinson College and Dickinson School of Law,” attached to letter from J.H. Morgan to William Trickett, 27 April 1916, Record Group 13, File Folder 1, Dickinson School of Law/Dickinson College Correspondence 1912-1916.
May I be pardoned if I say that your note and the accompanying section of your proposed report to the Board of Trustees of the College were a surprise to me? You purpose to suggest to that board, the consideration of the relation of the College and Law School, as if it had never been considered and formallysettled. In 1913 both boards of trustees appointed committees,each of which was to meet with the other, to agree upona plan of cooperation and union, and was to report the plan agreed upon, to the board which appointed it, for ratification. The relations of college and school werethoroughly canvassed by the two committees, meeting together, in Dr. Noble’s residence; an agreement was reached on all mooted points, and Mr. Spahr of the college board was requested to express it in writing. It was further agreed that this paper drawn up by him should be submitted to the two bodies. It was so submitted. It was ratified by both bodies without dissent. All who were cognizant of the circumstances, supposed the question finally settled. It is impossible for me to think that anybody who participated in this agreement would now seek to subvert it. I must believe that the college, after months of deliberation, knew what it was doing, and I cannot suspect that its Trustees wish capriciously to repudiate it. I am imaging that you are purposing to reawaken the defunct discussion, in ignorance of the contract which terminated to earlier stage of it. It would be idle to enter into a fresh consideration of a matter so recently decided by a formal convention. There would be no guaranty that a second settlement, were a different one possible, would last any longer than the first. The college is our common Alma Mater. We both wish it well. I shall rejoice in your attaining, as its president, the greatest possible success. Will you permit me, however, to express the conviction that the repeating of the agitation which characterized the term
of your predecessor would have consequences which both of us would deplore?46
The question of a merger between the law school and
Dickinson College appears to have laid dormant until Dean
Trickett’s death on August 1, 1928.47 Shortly thereafter,
apparently as a result of the poor Pennsylvania Bar exam scores
exhibited by the Law School’s graduates during the final years
of Dr. Trickett’s tenure as dean—the College trustees appointed
a committee chaired by Boyd Lee Spahr “to consider the question
of the relations of the College to the Dickinson School of Law,
and make a report of a program of action on the same.”48 The
committee’s report was presented to the board at its meeting in
June, 1929.
On October 10, 1929, Spahr wrote a letter to Judge William
Valentine, newly-elected president of the Law School’s Board of
Incorporators, stating that the Law School and the College “ought
to arrive at a definite understanding and arrangement for the
future.”49 He suggested four possible courses of action:
1. Let matters run along as they are.46 William Trickett to Dr. James Henry Morgan, 28 April 1916, Record Group 13, File Folder 1, Dickinson School of Law/DickinsonCollege Correspondence 1912-1916.
2. Divorce the College and the Law School entirely. 3. Carry into effect the action proposed in 1913, or with modifications as might be agreed upon. 4. Make the Law School in law and in fact a department of the College.50
A meeting of the College and Law School committees on joint
relations was held at the College on August 4, 1931.51 According
47 Spahr later wrote that “[m]y recollection is that there never was a meeting of such [joint] committee during the presidency of Dr. Morgan. Frankly, while Dr. Morgan was an excellent Presidentin many ways, he never had a very sympathetic feeling toward the Law School or lawyers generally, with the result that the matter was just laid aside. Finally, I think that during the short tenure of President Filler, 1928-31, there was one meeting of such joint committee….There was a good deal of talk but no operating result. Since then the matter has been left dormant.” Boyd Lee Spahr to the Hon. W.C. Sheely, 17 September 1945, Law School Relations with College, File Folder 8-20, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence, 1-11-1933-11-15-1945.48 Dickinson School of Law graduates posted an overall pass rate on the July 1928 bar exam of 37.73%, compared to 52.72% for Duquesne, 55.56% for Temple, 71.42% for Penn, 82.43% for Pitt and91.30% for Harvard. “Pennsylvania State Board of Law Examiners,”2-3 July 1928, File Folder 8-19, Law School Relations with College, c. 1913-1932, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence. This was seen as reflecting badly on Dickinson College, since many believed that the College controlled the Law School.49 The following year Walter Harrison Hitchler was appointed Dean of the Law School, a position he would hold until 1954.50 Boyd Lee Spahr to the Hon. W.A. Valentine, 10 October 1929, Record Group 13, File Folder 2, Dickinson School of Law/DickinsonCollege Correspondence 1928-1933.51 “Memorandum of Meeting of Joint Committee of Dickinson College and Dickinson School of Law Held at Carlisle,” 4 August, 1931, File Folder 8-19, Law School Relations with College, c. 1913-1932, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence.
to the minutes of the meeting, it was agreed that the 1913
resolution “should be regarded as valid and subsisting, and that
the details thereof to be carried out by committee therein named
should be consummated.”52
An agreement was drafted whereby the Law School was
“declared to be the law department of the College.”53 However,
both corporations were to continue “as corporate entities each
functioning through its Board of Trustees or Board of
Incorporators.”54 As in the 1913 resolution, the trustees of the
College were to appoint the Law School’s Board of Incorporators
as a Board of Overseers of the Law Department, “with the right to
select their own successors.”55 The board was to have the power
to select law school faculty “subject to the approval of the
president of the College.”56
The proposed agreement specified that joint
commencement exercises were to be held, with the law degrees
being issued in the following form:52 Ibid.53 “Third Draft,” File Folder 8-19, Law School Relations with College, c. 1913-1932, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence.54 Ibid.55 Ibid.56 Ibid.
Dickinson CollegeDepartment of Law
(Dickinson School of Law)57
Both the College and the Law School reserved the right to
terminate the agreement upon giving three months notice prior to
the opening of the fall academic term.
The proposed agreement was never brought before the law
school’s board for a vote. In a letter to Spahr dated December
12, 1932, Judge Valentine wrote that the Law School’s committee
on relations with the College, which included Valentine, Dean
Hitchler and Justice Kephart, “could not and would not recommend
[the agreement] for approval by the Board of Incorporators...nor
would the Board, in the opinion of the members of the
committee...approve such provisions.”58 While the committee
objected to several of the provisions in the proposed agreement,
the requirement that the selection of law school faculty would be
subject to approval by the President of the College was described
as being “exceptionally objectionable as its effect would be to
57 Ibid.
take the management of the Law School out of the hands of the
Incorporators and transfer it to the President of the College.”59
The Law School committee was essentially correct in this
view. College President Karl Waugh, in a letter to Spahr dated
March 17, 1933, called the provision “necessary” but admitted
that “the President of the College has no desire to exercise the
privilege of appointing a Law School faculty, and would, indeed,
not be competent to select them.”60
In a March 24, 1933 letter to Judge Kephart, Spahr wrote
that “[a]ssuming that your views reflect those of the other
members of the Law School committee, it seems to me that we might
as well abandon efforts toward and formal closer relationship and
let matters stand as they have been.”61 Even if matters could
58 Hon. W. Alfred Valentine to Boyd Lee Spahr, 18 December 1932, Record Group 13, File Folder 2, Dickinson School of Law/DickinsonCollege Correspondence 1928-1933.59 Ibid.60 Waugh to Boyd Lee Spahr, 17 March 1933, File Folder 8-20, Law School Relations with College, 1-11-1933-11-15-1945, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence. Dr. Waugh added that “There is in my mind no doubt but that the president of the College would always give full approval to such Law School faculty members as might be selected by the Law School itself.”61 Boyd Lee Spahr to the Hon. John W. Kephart, 24 March 1933, FileFolder 8-20, Law School Relations with College, 1-11-1933-11-15-1945, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence.
have been worked out through further negotiations, another change
in the college’s administration intervened. Spahr later wrote
that “[t]he difficulties arising out of Dr. Waugh’s resignation,
the interim administration of Dr. Morgan, the selection of a new
president and other matters necessarily put it to one side.”62
Additional negotiations between the college and the law
school were conducted following the Second World War. Early in
1946, Boyd Lee Spahr wrote the following to the Hon. W. Clarence
Sheely, who had succeeded Judge Valentine as President of the Law
School in 1940:
“Personally, I have long felt that the present situation is somewhat anomalous. Legally, the Law School is a separate corporation, dating from 1890, although it traces its origin back to the original chair in the College existing intermittently until about 1880. Practically, Law School men regard themselves as Dickinsonians, belong to the various alumni clubs, attend their dinners, etc. From the College standpoint, they are very welcome in their feelings that they are connected with Dickinson (even though, now that the school is really a graduate school, some of them are graduates of other colleges). I know of no law school, at least none of any repute, which is a separate institution; all of them are departments of a college or university. I should be very glad if the spirit of the joint resolution of 1913
62 Boyd Lee Spahr to Dr. Fred P. Corson, 29 July 1936, File Folder8-20, Law School Relations with College, 1-11-1933-11-15-1945, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence.
or 1914 could be carried out by actually making the LawSchool a department of the College and, if so desired, under an arrangement by which it would preserve full financial autonomy. I may be in error, but I rather feel that it may be that the attitude of your Board nowwould be different from what it was twelve years ago.”63
Judge Sheely replied in a letter to Spahr dated March 16,
1946. He wrote “that nothing would be gained by reopening the
question of having the Law School made a department of the
College, but that much might be gained by discussions between the
committees of the Boards of the two institutions looking toward a
closer cooperation between them.”64 In a memorandum dated May
15, 1946, Spahr wrote that “[t[his appears to foreclose any new
discussion of possible merger although it rather ignores the
joint action of the Board members in June, 1913, which declared
the Law School to be a department of the College, although
concededly nothing has ever been done to effectuate that beyond
the adoption of the resolution.”65
Another round of negotiations—the last in which Boyd
Lee Spahr participated—occurred in 1958. Spurred by a rumor that
63 Boyd Lee Spahr to the Hon. William C. Sheely, 2 January 1946, File Folder 8-21, Law School Relations with College, 1-2-1946-10-15-1951, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence.
the “Pennsylvania State University is looking toward the
absorption of Dickinson Law School by it so that it will have a
Law School in its university setup,”66 Spahr met with Dean Morris
Shafer of the law school.67 While Spahr sensed that Shafer’s
“general feeling toward the College” was “very friendly,” the
question of transforming the Law School into a department of the
College apparently was not raised.68
At the meeting Dean Shafer reportedly told Spahr “that he
had heard a rumor that Pennsylvania State University was thinking
of adding a law school but that no word to that effect officially
or unofficially has come to him.”69 In fact, Dean Shafer did
undertake such negotiations with representatives of the
64 Hon. W.C. Sheely to Boyd Lee Spahr, 16 March 1946, File Folder 8-21, Law School Relations with College, 1-2-1946-10-15-1951, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence.65 “Memorandum re Dickinson School of Law,” 15 May 1946, File Folder 8-21, Law School Relations with College, 1-2-1946-10-15-1951, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence.66 Boyd Lee Spahr to Dr. William W. Edel, 26 September 1958, File Folder 8-22, Law School Relations with College, 1-17-1952-12-30-1958, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence.67 Morris Shafer had become Law School Dean in 1956. The meeting took place on March 18, 1959.68 Boyd Lee Spahr to Bishop Corson, Mr. Vale and Mr. McKenney, 31 March 1959, File Folder 8-23, Law School Relations with College, 1-9-19592-3-31-1959, Boyd Lee Spahr Papers and Correspondence. 69 Ibid.
Pennsylvania State University, without initially notifying the
Law School’s Board or President.70
The possibility of a Law School merger with any outside
institution—be it Dickinson College or Penn State University—did
not sit well with all Law School alumni. The Washington, D.C.
Alumni Chapter adopted the following resolution opposing such
action.
The club, having received information that there is increasing pressure for making the Law School a department or unit within a university or college, suchas the Pennsylvania State University or Dickinson College, passed a resolution expressing concern over this possibility.71
The merger of the Law School and the Pennsylvania State
University ultimately did occur. On January 14, 1997 it was
announced that the two institutions planned to join.72 The
merger was completed in 2000; among the agreed-upon term was
that the Law School was to remain in Carlisle “in perpetuity.”73
70 Laub, The Dickinson School of Law, 91. The Law School’s board continued to study the possibly of a Dickinson School of Law/PennState merger as late as 1968, several years after Dean Shafer’s resigned as dean.71 “DC Club Concerned Over School’s Future,” Bill of Particulars, 2 September 1969, p. 3.
It would seem that this action would have ended any
possibility of a merger between the Dickinson School of Law and
Dickinson College. It did not. In 2004, the University began
negotiating with the Law School’s Board of Governors regarding
opening a Law School at Penn State’s main campus, University
Park. That left an unresolved question--what would be the fate
of the Law School’s historic Carlisle campus? Among the
possibilities discussed was a transfer of the Law School to
Dickinson College. However, the days when the “Law School men
regard themselves as Dickinsonians” were long-gone.
“We will get a good education from Dickinson, but the
student perception is that Penn State will help make the law
school move up in the rankings where is should be,” reported law
student Jennifer Beidel.74 “Our concern is that Penn State will
offer a degree that is well-known. Penn State is known, but
outside of Pennsylvania, Dickinson is not.”75
72 Bill Schackner, “Dickinson School of Law, Penn State Planning Merger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 14 January 1997.73 “Judge considers suit against law school campus,” Bucks County Courier Times, February 2005.74 Randy Widner, “Some Law Students Fear Loss of Penn State Affiliation, Dickinsonian, 8 October 2004, p. 2.75 Ibid.
In November 2004, the Law School’s Board of Governors voted
25-4 for a resolution calling for the Law School to remain a
part of the Penn State system.76 The long period of
negotiations that might have brought the Dickinson School of Law
and Dickinson College together had finally ended.
76 David Blymire, “Law School Sticks with Penn State,” Sentinel, 21 November 2004.
Appendix
Dickinson College and Dickinson Law School leaders during theperiod of active negotiations between Dickinson College and the
Dickinson School of Law
Presidents of Dickinson College77
George Edward Reed 1889-1911Eugene Allen Noble 1911-1914James Henry Morgan 1914-1928Mervin Grant Filler 1928-1931James Henry Morgan 1931-1932Karl Tinsley Waugh 1932-1933
James Henry Morgan, 1933-1934 (Acting)Fred Pierce Corson, 1934-1944
Cornelius William Prettyman, 1944-1946Boyd Lee Spahr, 1945-1946 (Acting); Trustee 1908-1970
Gilbert Malcolm, 1945-1946 (Acting)William Wilcox Edel, 1946-1959Gilbert Malcolm, 1959-1961
Deans of the Dickinson School of Law78
William Trickett, 1890-1928Sylvester Sadler (Acting), 1928-1929
Committee consisting of Walter Harrison Hitchler, Joseph P.McKeehan
and Fred S. Reese, 1929-1930Walter Harrison Hitchler, 1930-1954D. Fenton Adams (Acting), 1954-1956
Morris L. Shafer, 1956-1965
Presidents of the Dickinson School of Law79
77 Archives & Special Collections at Dickinson College, c. 2014, http://archives.dickinson.edu/college_history/browse_encyclopedia.78 Laub, The Dickinson School of Law, 186.79 Ibid.