Sir Hilary Beckles worried about Mona Law move

THE MOVE to set up a Faculty of Law at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies has forced the head of the Cave Hill campus to take protective action.{{more}}

While addressing members of his staff at a meeting last Thursday, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles said their colleagues at Mona had “declared” a Faculty of Law.

“We now have a major constitutional crisis at Cave Hill campus, that a campus had declared without university approval a Faculty of Law, which has imperiled the Cave Hill Faculty of Law. I am very worried about the future of the Faculty of Law at the Cave Hill campus in light of the behaviour in other parts of the university.

“We are now trying to pull this bolted horse back into the stable, but the Faculty of Law has been a centre of excellence for 40 years and it will continue to be. We are going to protect the Faculty of Law at Cave Hill campus as a centre of excellence in UWI,” he said, adding that expansion of the local faculty would continue.

Noting that St Augustine could decide they wanted to set up a Law faculty as well, Sir Hilary said they were trying to bring some order out of the fragmentation and plan for the university collectively.

St Augustine is expected to have a faculty in another two years, but Sir Hilary said Cave Hill should be protected and not destroyed.

Originally, UWI law students read for their law degree at the Cave Hill campus before pursuing their legal certificate at one of the law schools, Hugh Wooding in Trinidad, Norman Manley in Jamaica or Eugene Dupuch in The Bahamas.

However, there has been a demand for places at the Faculty of Law in Barbados by an increasing number of students across the region, many of whom cannot be admitted. This has led to some students’ pursuing distance programmes in law, mainly with British universities. This in turn has led to a greater demand for places at the various law schools. (Barbados Nation)