I am convinced that Ave Maria is one of the most promising undertakings in Catholic higher education. I had the honor of sitting next to US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia at the first planning session in the Spring of 1999. The Ave Maria lecture series will be inaugurated in November 1999 with a talk by US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Professor Robert Bork will be a visiting professor for Ave Maria’s inaugural semester in the Fall of 2000. The founding Dean of Ave Maria is Professor Bernard Dobranski, most recently Dean of the Catholic University of America School of Law.

I mention these well known names only as an indication that from day one this is going to be a first-rate law school with the highest standard of professional excellence in teaching the law and a total commitment to an authentically Catholic intellectual tradition which alone can illuminate the meaning of the law and guide its practice in ways that are fully consistent with the dignity of the human person and the common good of society.

The doors will open in August of 2000. A core faculty and staff have already been engaged. A beautiful 84,000 square foot building on an 11 acre campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan has been leased and is being renovated at this moment. Over 100 expressions of interest by potential faculty and over 300 by potential students in 39 states have already been received.

I believe this law school—from its very inception—will be unsurpassed both in the excellence of its education in the law and the integrity of its commitment to authentic Catholic intellectual life.