SMU plans to relocate the Dedman School of Law from the main campus to East Campus.

The current law quad is tucked in the northwest corner of campus, on the intersection of Hillcrest and Daniel Avenue. Florence Hall, the oldest building in the Law Quad, was constructed in 1924 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. In the 100 years since, the school has added Storey Hall, Carr Collins Jr. Hall and the Underwood Library.

Details of the move were presented to the Faculty Senate on Wednesday, Dec. 3. Though the reason for the move is unclear, SMU administration provided the following statement to The Daily Campus.

“We are focused on accelerating SMU’s academic ascent with premier academic programs that align with our teaching and research missions. As a part of that work, we look carefully at opportunities for growth across disciplines, long-term office and classroom needs, our desire to provide residential experiences for more undergraduate and graduate students, and the value of purpose-built spaces to serve students, staff, faculty, and visitors to SMU. Our scope includes the entire campus on both sides of US-75.”

Law students have not formally received an announcement about the relocation. Dedman Law Dean Jason Nance told The Daily Campus in an email it “intends to share information with students about the law school’s move to East Campus after the winter break to allow students to maintain their focus on end-of-semester exams.”

Spencer Bates, a Dedman Law student and Law Senator in the Student Senate, said he was told about the move around the second week of November during class by one of his law professors. Bates said he was disappointed in the lack of communication he and other students received about the potential move prior to the decision.

“My honest opinion is that it feels more like a betrayal for the law students and just everyone with the law school,” Bates said.

Currently, law students need to take just a five-minute walk to access on-campus hotspots such as the Hughes-Trigg Student Center, the Cox School of Business or Dallas Hall Lawn. The eventual move will send law students across the freeway. Bates said the move will likely decrease interaction with undergraduate life.

“I think law students are students first, too,” Bates said. “I cannot tell you how many I’ve seen go to the Tate Lecture Series, all the seminars, especially held at Hughes-Trigg. So plenty of law students still interact with the rest of campus.”

Some students, such as Bates and law student Aruni Ellepola, are enrolled as JD/MBA students, meaning that they are pursuing degrees for both Dedman Law and the Cox School of Business. Ellepola said the move would create logistical difficulties for students attending both schools.

“From the JD/MBA perspective, that kind of raised some alarms for me,” Ellepola said. “It is hard enough to manage going back and forth from the law school to Cox. Right now, what I envision is that’s a lot of headache for a JD/MBA student having to navigate between the two campuses.”

Ellepola said the rumors of relocation became reality after a discussion with Dean Stephen B. Yeager, who also serves as the Faculty Supervisor of the SMU Dedman Law Corporate Counsel Externship Program. She said the extent of the move is far greater than she and her classmates expected.

“[Dean Yeager] kind of laid out their grand vision,” Ellepola said. “When I first started here, they were doing surveys around the law school because we knew renovations were happening. So we knew changes were imminent… we didn’t realize it meant a whole new campus.”

The Dedman School of Law did intend to improve the existing facilities of the law quad in the coming years. According to the SMU Ignited Campaign Final Report, plans to renovate persisted as recently as May 1, 2025.

On page 170 of the report, meeting minutes show that SMU trustee David Huntley provided updates from the Dedman School of Law Campaign Steering Committee in a Campaign Executive Committee meeting on Dec. 5, 2024.

“Mr. Huntley said for the last eight months, we have been working with the architecture firm SLAM to conduct a feasibility study, a programming study and design implementation to usher in a new era of instruction via a comprehensive renovation to the law quad…Mr. Huntley concluded by stating the two Dedman School of Law fundraising priorities are the Law Quad Renovation and the Dedman Law Centennial Scholarship Challenge.”

Instead, it appears renovations will be sidelined in favor of a complete uprooting. Bates said that he worried the atmosphere of Dedman Law would be hindered on East Campus.

“It’s nice to be able to walk outside and be surrounded by a beautiful tempietto, a beautiful grassy area where you could reconnect with your sense of humanity,” Bates said. “It’s not uncommon for students to walk across campus into main campus and then walk back. I have a fear that it’s going to be more corporate, at least in terms of the environment.”

Camille Nguyen, a junior pre-law scholar, also appreciates that the law quad is within reach for undergraduates, and that law students can interact with other areas on campus.

“I think the location is really great because you’re nestled by yourself,” Nguyen said. “You don’t directly have to go into the undergraduate kind of area, but you can, which is nice. Everything’s very accessible.”

Ellepola is one of 21 elected members of the Student Bar Association, a governing body that represents the “concerns and interests of the law school student body” and must “actively support and institute… procedures and practices for the betterment of the law school,” according to the organization’s webpage.

Despite this, Ellepola said the Student Bar Association was not approached regarding its stance on the relocation.

“We weren’t consulted as a council,” Ellepola said. “I think students’ voices should be included in this process because there’s a lot of feedback that we can provide as far as being a graduate student organization on this large, undergrad campus, but in some ways feeling isolated from the resources of the institution.”

The disconnect from the undergraduate body is a concern for others. Brynne Kelly, a current law student who received her undergraduate degree at SMU as well, was not part of the Pre-Law track and said she had no interaction with representatives from the law school.

“What I found interesting is in undergrad, the law school never made a presence,” Kelly said. “I never talked to a single person from the law school. They have the pre-law scholars program, but outside of that, you just don’t hear anything about SMU Law.”

The move now separates Pre-Law undergraduate students from the law school campus too. Coco Rodriguez, a sophomore Pre-Law student, said the program’s advisor, Dr. Susan Harris, helps her find opportunities to attend Law School events.

“I think Dr. Harris does a really good job of advertising pre-law events or networking events within the law quad, where we are able to interact with law students,” Rodriguez said.

Even with her concerns, Ellepola did recognize that a move could strengthen Dedman Law’s individual identity.

“I think the potential for the law school is via isolating it from the undergrad institution,” Ellepola said. “There’s a lot more room to grow and really establish its own stronghold. So that could be valuable for the JD program.”

More details of the move are to come, but the Dedman School of Law will remain in the Law Quad for the remainder of its 100th year of existence.

The Daily Campus reached out to Dedman Law’s Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, Stephen Yeager, but did not receive a comment at the time of publication.