NEWSBEAT REPORTER

To help make its graduates more competitive when entering the work force, the LSU Law School faculty is looking to implement many changes.

The current grading system at the Paul M Hebert School is causing students’ GPA’s to seem lower than comparable schools across the nation.

Chancellor Jack Weiss says he takes the time to look at other schools’ GPA’s.

“I became aware through doing that and through conversations with students that in certain important respects the program was shall we say out of sync with most of the rest of the American law school community,” said Weiss.

LSU Law’s GPA for the top 10 percent of third year students is a 3.27. Other schools in the region range from at least 3.5 to more than 3.7

Six hundred students planned on spending one of their three summers her. Now that faculty hope to eliminate the requirement of a seventh semester, that may not be the case.

Eliminating the seventh semester means changing the credit hour requirement from 97, the highest in the nation, to 94.

First year student Rob Juge attends law school while serving the country.

“Being in the army it was hard to get a scholarship here due to the fact that it requires three and a half years whereas all other schools require three, so it’s kind of nice to be put on the same footing with everybody else,” said Juge.

Also, classes would be changed from 60 min to 50 min to achieve greater flexibility in scheduling.

Chancellor Wiess looks forward to these changes being passed at the next board meeting.

“I’m strongly in support of these changes because a, I believe they are pedagogically sound,” said Wiess. “I think they make our students more competitive and more successful.”

The law school is also implementing a campaign to reduce smoking around the building.