Officials in Orange Pledge to Help University Acquire Law School Site
Chapman University officials said they may have to build their new law school outside the city unless they can buy a historic building owned by the Orange Unified School District. City Council members offered unanimous support for the law school at Tuesday’s meeting and pledged to help the university acquire the district’s old administration building on Glassell Street. They directed City Manager David F. Dixon to continue talks with the university and the school district to try to cement a deal.
“In the long term, we want a permanent law school built and built here in Orange,” Dixon said.
Dick Cheshire, Chapman’s vice president for community relations, said the building is overwhelmingly the university’s first choice because it is across the street from the main campus. But he noted that three other cities are trying to lure them.
The law school is scheduled to open in temporary quarters, probably outside of Orange, in September, 1995, Cheshire said.
“We so much want the (permanent) law school to open in Orange,” he added.
The district building, which was built in 1914, is registered as a national historic site and Chapman would preserve the building’s facade, Cheshire said.
Orange schools Supt. Robert L. French said the Board of Education hopes to make an announcement about the building in early November.
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