New Grammar and Prep School Readies for August Opening

Ave Maria Grammar and Preparatory School, the town's new K-12 school, has been built and has over 100 students signed up for the first day of classes in August!

The school will offer a Catholic education and will employ a Classical curriculum based on the Great Books and the Trivium. Among the impresssive faculty will be three Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist (the same wonderful nuns who run the Spiritus Sanctus Academies).

A link to the school website is in the links section of this blog.

First Residents Move In

This week the new town of Ave Maria, Florida, welcomed its first permanent residents, who moved into their newly constructed home.

Congratulations and our prayers to these pioneers!

Wise 3L to incoming 1L: AMSL is well worth being part of

Another item found elsewhere:

Dear Ave Maria ’10?,

There are plenty of us in the Class of 2008 who, despite all the noise, are still happy to be at Ave Maria School of Law. And although I do not know a lot of students in the Class of 2009, I am aware of several who are also glad to be here. Among our ranks are students who could have initially chosen or transferred to schools very high up in the first tier. Everyone has to make his own decision depending upon his circumstances. Some of my former classmates, whom I continue to miss dearly, transferred to highly ranked schools and their reports since transferring only further confirm my decisions to come to and to remain at Ave.

Sometimes it has been difficult to focus because of the sound and the fury...

(click on headline above to read the entire item)

The Fa(c)ulty Misrepresentations:

This was posted elsewhere by someone claiming to be an AMSL 1L; it seems to have been overlooked, but is worth enshrining:

I don't think I've ever been more ashamed of the faculty at this school. The faculty quotes two paragraphs from the Dean's e-mail. Well, not all of it. Out of a total of 229 words, they cut out 8.

Look at the elipses in the first line.

The line quoted in the letter: "the Law School email, may not be used ... for any ... activities or purposes that are intended to or are reasonably likely to undermine or damage..."

The unredacted line: "the Law School email, may not be used to promote the establishment of another law school or for any other activities or purposes that are intended to or are reasonably likely to undermine or damage..."


(click on headline above to read the entire post)

Excellent Work By Alumni Assoc.

May 16, 2007

Dean Bernard Dobranski
Ave Maria School of Law
3475 Plymouth Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105

Dear Dean Dobranski:

We write to give you a summary of our discussions in the April and May Alumni Association Board of Directors conference calls concerning the recent publication of the 2007 law-school rankings in the U.S. News and World Report. Though your proxy, Dave Kelley, was present for both meetings, we feel that this topic is important enough to require special correspondence directly to you.

As you are aware, Ave Maria School of Law placed somewhere in the fourth tier in the school’s second year of eligibility for the rankings. While the members of the Alumni Board are disappointed with this ranking, an analysis of Ave Maria’s individual scores in comparison with other ranked law schools provides reason to believe that Ave Maria is on the cusp of an imminently attainable third-tier ranking. We base our conclusion on the following statistics. . .

(click on headline above to view entire post)

The Fa(c)ulty Resolution: Part 2

Claim:

The Florida job structure rates 44^th in the nation. Florida’s income per resident is well below the national average. Florida’s substandard educational system produces substandard jobs and wages.

Response:

This is perhaps the most incredible claim of all. Michigan’s GDP is in the lowest quintile in the nation. Florida’s is the highest. Florida’s GDP of $673,274 (in millions) with less than a third more people is nearly twice Michigan’s $376,000 (in millions). Florida’s average growth rate from 1997-2005 ranked it third in the nation, Michigan was 48^th. (U.S. Dept. of Commerce). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Florida is at full employment at 3.1%. Michigan’s unemployment is nearly twice as high at 6.9%.

Something Brilliant at Ave Maria

"I believe you are at the beginning of something brilliant here at Ave Maria," Noonan said, addressing her remarks to the graduating class. "I believe you are at the beginning of what will be known as the great Catholic university of the 21st century in America."

Peggy Noonan, bestselling author and columnist for The Wall Street Journal, delivered the commencement address at Ave Maria University's third commencement ceremony May 12, 2007.

The day before the commencement ceremony, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, editor-in-chief of First Things, presided over the university's Baccalaureate Mass and was also given the honorary degree, doctor of humane letters, honoris causa.

Fiction v. Reality

Ave Maria Town according to critics.









And the reality.