Law School Growth

              Attendance Largest in Its History This Year

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                      THREE YEARS" COURSE

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              Has Resulted in No Falling Off of Attendance.

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U. of M. Daily Editorial Incorrectly States the Effect of the lengthening of the Course, But the Figures Tell the Truth.

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The U. of M. Daily in a somewhat astonishing editorial yesterday makes the statement :

"An examination of the registration of some of the larger universities reveals the fact that there is almost universally a falling off in the number of students in the professional departments with the exception of engineering. Nearly all of these universities show the usual increased attendance, but this is for the most part in the academic department.

"At Harvard there is no increase in the law school and at Michigan and Wisconsin there is a decided falling off. The medical and other schools have as a rule suffered almost equally as much.
Michigan's law school has of course a much smaller attendance owing to the fact that the course has been increased to three years.
But this fact when considered in the light of the universal decline, or at least lack of increase, in the law schools of the country, will hardly explain the situation here.

"The editorial, although not credited, was clipped from a student publication of Wisconsin University. So far at least as it refers to Michigan University it is incorrect and a letter from the dean of the Wisconsin law school indicates that the attendance has not fallen off there either.

Instead of falling off in attendance due to the lengthening of the law course, the truth is that the attendance this year is about 100 more than the highest year's attendance on a two years' course.

There is also an increased attendance this year over last year. In fact there is a larger attendance in the law department of Michigan University this year than ever before in its history.
The whole number enrolled Dec. 5, 1898, was 736 in the full law course and 30 in the combined literary and law courses, making a total enrollment on that date in the department of 766.
On Dec. 10, 1897, there were 731 enrolled in the full law course and 22 in the combined literary and law class, making a total enrollment of 73.
This shows an increase of 13 in the attendance this year.
If the same number enter the law course after this date as did last year the total enrollment this year will reach 780 as against 767 last year.
The highest attendance with a two years' course was 670.

It will be seen that so far from the increase in the length of the law course decreasing the attendance, there were never before so many students studying law in the university as there are this year.

The authorities of Wisconsin University are also stirred up over the article, as it is said to misrepresent conditions there. It may have been clipped for the Wisconsin paper, from some other college, journal, for when once a misstatement of this kind gets started, it is impossible to tell how far it may go.