Bill would allow UT law school to offer remote courses at UTRGV

Proposed by state Rep. Terry Canales (D-Edinburg), House Bill 116 would create a distance learning program that would allow the University of Texas School of Law to offer first-year students remote learning options at UTRGV.

HB 116, if passed, would require that the law school offer a minimum of five students located in the Rio Grande Valley the opportunity to take first-year law courses entirely remotely. 

The students would be required to move to Austin following the first year and stay the duration of their degree. 

HB 116 is not the first proposal regarding remote law courses.

In March 2021, the Texas House of Representatives passed House Bill 695, proposed by state Rep. Armando “Mando” Martinez (D-Weslaco). The bill, which died in the Texas Senate, proposed the establishment of a public law school in the Rio Grande Valley.

Both bills deal with the issue of students in the Valley being able to take remote courses for their law programs. They were proposed after St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and the South Texas College of Law in Houston were allowed to offer remote learning for their law students.

Patricia Roberts, dean of St. Mary’s University School of Law, said the school must receive permission from the American Bar Association to start the program.

“We are the southmost law school in the country,” Roberts said in a phone interview last Tuesday with The Rider. 

Remote law school programs in Texas are a fairly new concept. 

The St. Mary’s program, which began accepting applications this year, accepts only 26 students for remote learning. Eight hundred students attend the law school currently.

The South Texas College of Law in Houston opened applications for its law program on Nov. 15. The online law program will begin in Fall 2023.

If the proposal were to pass, the minimum number of students accepted into the UT law school’s Rio Grande Valley program would be five.

Asked why fully online law degrees are being offered, Roberts replied, “There  areas of Texas … where people don’t have access to get a law degree.”

In a written statement, Canales said the Valley “faces a geographical barrier to law school, with the nearest school located more than 3 hours away.” 

The concept of an online law degree has had its share of criticism. 

“There are some who believe students lose too much,” Roberts said. 

But in his email last Tuesday to The Rider, Canales wrote, “Children in the Rio Grande Valley deserve access to the highest levels of education right here in our region.”

HB 116 was filed on Nov. 14. 

If this bill were to pass, it would make the UT School of Law the first public law school in the state to offer remote courses. St. Mary’s University and the South Texas College of Law are private institutions. 

The Rider reached out to Catherine Frazier, director of media relations for the UT System, for comment about the proposal. Frazier responded in a Nov. 28 email, writing, “because this is pending legislation … I cannot comment on this bill.”

The newspaper also contacted Matt Pene, senior media relations manager for the University of Texas at Austin, for comment. In a Nov. 23 email, Pene replied, “We don’t comment on proposed bills.”