U. of Pittsburgh’s Environmental Law Clinic Becomes a Political Hot Potato

The jury is still out on the future of the University of Pittsburgh’s Environmental Law Clinic.

Law students have only been providing free legal services through the clinic since January, but they have already angered several state legislators by representing clients who oppose logging in the Allegheny National Forest and the development of a new expressway that runs south from Pittsburgh.

Since the controversy erupted, the legislature has cut the university’s funds by as much as $200,000, according to Mark A. Nordenberg, the university’s chancellor. He cautioned in an open letter on November 7 that the university was paying a “steep price” for its involvement with the clinic. The university receives $180-million from the state, roughly 20 percent of its budget.

Pitt is making the clinic conduct a survey of its administrative costs -- a $60,000 task that, in a worse case scenario, could bankrupt the clinic within two years, according to Thomas C. Buchele, a law professor and the clinic’s director.

Mr. Buchele fears the chancellor’s comments will hamper efforts to defend those who oppose the state’s agenda. Nonetheless, the clinic has dropped the logging case to try to ease tensions; Mr. Buchele is now personally representing the environmental groups. The clinic still represents Citizens for Alternatives to New Toll Roads, the group fighting the expressway.

The Pittsburgh clinic isn’t the only university clinic enmeshed in a political dispute. A clinic at Tulane University challenged restrictions placed on it by the Louisiana Supreme Court that the law students claimed were politically motivated. In October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Tulane students’ appeal.

http://chronicle.com Section: Government & Politics Page: A19