While both administrators and students promote an increase in faculty, both sides recognize the difficulties of significantly increasing the number of professors.

Clark says at his appointment as dean, he set as a goal to increase the faculty by 12 members before 2000. That goal, he notes, has been met in full--and even surpassed by three more. But five of those professors, according to Clark, were current faculty who were not forced to retire.

Mate points out that retiring faculty members make it necessary to hire new ones at a faster rate.

"The law school is going to have no choice but to hire new professors--a lot of professors are retiring," says Mate. "Hiring new professors just covers the turnover rate."

Clark says that an increase in faculty is nevertheless underway, but that it will not be evident for several years.

"It takes time, but it's certainly possible to get an increase of two or three faculty members a year," Clark says. "But it's not realistic to think one can [increase faculty significantly] in two or three years."

Money Matters

None of these new initiatives come without costs, and Clark says a large fundraising drive is on the horizon.