Birth and development of the Salmon P. Chase College, School of Law.
Creators: name: Hutchens, Raymond Paul.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1960
Subjects: subject: Education, History of.

description: This study discloses the difficulties encountered in establishing and operating a law school under the auspices of the Young Men's Christian Association of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. It notes the points of friction which arise when an educational institution is forced to adjust all phases of its operation to conform with the organizational structure, financial policy and administrative procedure commonly required of all organizational units sponsored by the Young Men's Christian Association. The history of the development of the law school from 1893 to 1951 is treated in five chapters. Each chapter designates a specific period marked by a shift in the structural organization governing the relationship of the law school with the YMCA. Chapter I includes the first twenty-three years of the existence of the law school under the direction of its founder, Robert M. Ochiltree. During this period, the law school was operated by Dean Ochiltree whose relationship with the YMCA was governed by a contractual agreement negotiated by the Dean and the YMCA Board of Directors. In this period controversies arose at periodic intervals when the Dean and YMCA Directors renegotiated their contractual agreement. Eventually the YMCA officials became dissatisfied with the contractual basis of their relationship concerning the law school and contended that it should be more closely integrated into the organizational structure of the Association. In 1916, Dean Ochiltree and members of the YMCA Board of Directors, initiated a merger agreement whereby the YMCA Night Law School became the Evening Division of the Cincinnati Law School. This merger lasted only one year. During this year, however, and before classes actually began, the YMCA Board of Directors reversed themselves and decided to continue operating an evening law school. Thus, the second period of this study finds the law school integrated into the YMCA organizational structure. Between the years 1916 and 1926 the law school was ranked in the YMCA organizational structure as a subdivision of the Educational Department. The Educational Department was a subdivision of the Central Branch and the Central Branch was only one of several other major organizational units sponsored by the YMCA. The YMCA Board granted Branch status to the Educational Department in 1926. This marked the third phase in the history of the law school and upgraded its organizational rank to that of a subdivision of a Branch. During this period, the YMCA General Secretary Launched a drive to eliminate the entire educational program sponsored by the Association. In 1933 the Educational Branch was reduced in organizational status to a Department of the Central Parkway Branch. This temporary setback introduces the fourth period of this study with the law school placed in the same organizational status it experienced form 1916 to 1926. In this period a new factor began to influence the operation of law schools in the state of Ohio. An organization called the League of Ohio Law Schools was formed and established standards recognized by the Supreme Court of Ohio as requirements which all law schools within its jurisdiction must meet in order to graduate students eligible for the State Bar Examination. The last chapter of this study begins in 1942 when the YMCA Board of Directors returned the Educational Department to Branch status in the organizational pattern of the Association and ends in 1951 when the Young Men's Christian Association of Cincinnati and Hamilton County finally approved the establishment of a separate and independent governing board for the College. It is evident from this study that it is impossible to operate an accredited college level educational program within the conventional pattern of organizational structure of the YMCA and conform to the standards required by the recognized educational authorities. It is possible, however, for an educational institution to retain an affiliation with the YMCA and comply with the requirements of the college accrediting agencies if the YMCA grants broad powers of administrative authority to those directly responsible for the operation of the educational program. A more satisfactory arrangement could be effected, however, if the College were incorporated separately under its own Articles of Incorporation. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)