TWU law school proposal wins final approval
LANGLEY, BC—Trinity Western University has been given the green light to open Canada’s first faith-based law school.
In mid-December, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada announced it had given the proposal its “preliminary” approval, despite claims by some in the legal community that the university’s community covenant discriminates against gay and lesbian students.
“The decision validates what we’ve been saying all along,” says TWU president Bob Kuhn, “that there’s a place in the pluralistic environment in which we exist as a society to include Christian educational institutions as appropriate members of that society.”
"...there’s no legal or logical reason why any aspect of a Christian university should eliminate it from having a law school as part of it." -Bob Kuhn, TWU president
Just two days later, B.C.’s Advanced Education Minister Amrik Virk took the final step in the review process—and approved the proposal.
Virk says the human rights concerns raised by the school’s opponents are beyond the scope of the process. “My decision,” he says, “is based solely on the degree quality review.”
TWU plans to open its new School of Law in September 2016 with a projected 60 students enrolled. Its degree program will give special emphasis to charity and not-for-profit law, and the smaller or rural practice.
Kuhn, who is also a lawyer, says both areas “are less adequately served now by schools which tend to focus on the bigger practices and the bigger organizations or clients.”
The federation spent about a year analyzing the proposal to ensure that what it offers will result in graduates who meet its so-called national requirement.
“There are three components—skills competencies, ethics and professionalism, and substantive knowledge,” says president Marie-Claude Bélanger-Richard. “We’re saying, ‘It’s up to you to make sure that they have all that is required for us to admit them to our bar program.’”
Its approval remains “preliminary” until the FLSC is satisfied that the program is actually delivering on its commitment to the national requirement.
Those against the proposal say the university’s community covenant, which every prospective student must be willing to sign, effectively keeps gays and lesbians from enrolling. TWU officials strongly deny this.
(“That document is the product of a community,” then-TWU president Jonathan Raymond said last year. “It’s all about how we live together, grounded in the university’s identity in Christ.”)
Bélanger-Richard says because the covenant “for sure raised a lot of interest,” they named a special advisory committee to study the issue. It recommends that the national requirement be expanded to include a ban on discrimination at the point of admission.
“They are taking that from the experience in the US where they have implemented this requirement,” she says. “But even if we were to add this requirement, TWU would still pass the national requirement, because the discrimination is not at the point of entry.”
Those opposed remain unconvinced. Toronto civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby has threatened legal action to keep the school from opening. “We will sue,” he says, “because it is immoral and unconstitutional to ban gay students.”
But Kuhn is confident nothing can stop it now from becoming a reality. “We meet the criteria,” he says, “and there’s no legal or logical reason why any aspect of a Christian university should eliminate it from having a law school as part of it.”
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