Texas Southern University asks for $120 million to replace aging law school

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Texas Southern University is asking lawmakers for $120 million to replace its law school building after the organization that sets standards for law schools deemed it unsafe and ill-suited to serve students with disabilities.

If the university doesn’t address the litany of problems with the building, the school stands to lose its ability to offer federal financial aid to its students.

University officials say storms — from Hurricane Rita in 2005 to Hurricane Harvey in 2017 — have battered the Thurgood Marshall School of Law in the nearly 50 years since it was built in the Third Ward of Houston.

They say they addressed leaks, mold and foundation issues as they arose, but the fixes weren’t enough for the American Bar Association, which evaluates and sets standards for law schools across the country.

In 2021, the organization told TSU the building did not comply with its standards for facilities, equipment and technology. The school was told the building poses health and safety concerns and needs more elevators for people with disabilities as well as more space for students and faculty overall.

The ABA told the university it would need to build a new facility to remain accredited. Accreditation ensures a higher education institution meets basic quality standards. Only students attending accredited institutions qualify for federal student grants and loans.

The ABA does not appear to have given TSU a deadline to meet its facilities standards. The organization declined to comment on this story.

“I cannot speculate on what failing to replace the aging facility would mean. What I would say is we owe our students the best learning and preparatory experience possible,” University President James W. Crawford III said in a statement. “It is very difficult to do so in the current facility.”

This is the second time TSU has requested money for a new law school building.

During the previous legislative session two years ago, the university asked for $415 million for capital projects, but lawmakers denied that request.

In this legislative session, funding to build a new law school is part of TSU’s latest $202 million request for capital projects, which also includes $50 million to upgrade classrooms and address health and safety issues with electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems at other campus buildings.

TSU’s law school was created in the 1940s after a Black student was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin’s law school. It was renamed after the U.S. Supreme Court’s first Black justice, Thurgood Marshall, in 1978.

Despite only representing 3% of all four-year institutions in the nation, historically Black colleges and universities like TSU graduate 17% of all Black students who obtain a bachelor’s degree and enroll twice as many Pell Grant-eligible students as non-HBCUs, according to a nonprofit that supports HBCUs.

The Thurgood Marshall School of Law is Texas’ No. 1 school in graduating Black attorneys and No. 3 in graduating Latino attorneys.

Many alumni serve in all levels of government. They include Senofria Thompson, the longest-serving woman and Black Texan in the Texas House of Representatives, and U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, who pushed to reform military investigations of sexual assault and harassment after the 2020 murder of 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillén. U.S. Rep. Al Green, who was recently censured by the U.S. House for his protest during President Donald Trump’s speech before Congress last week, graduated from TSU in 1973.

Many HBCUs like TSU have been underfunded for decades. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Education notified 16 states, including Texas, that they had collectively underfunded HBCUs by $12 billion in the past 30 years.

In 2018, the federal government studied how underfunding has led to HBCUs struggling to maintain and improve their infrastructure.

Seventy of 79 HBCUs surveyed at that time reported that many — if not most — of their buildings needed to be repaired or replaced.

It’s unclear whether lawmakers will grant TSU’s request this time. The money isn’t included in their initial spending plan. Lawmakers must pass a budget by June 2.

This month, TSU students joined Crawford, a decorated Navy veteran who was appointed university president less than a year ago, when he testified before the Texas House’s higher education committee to request funds to replace the law school building. The students seemed to make an impression.

State Rep. Donna Howard, an Austin Democrat who serves as vice chair of the committee, noted a Thurgood Marshall Law School student currently works for her. Another committee member, state Rep. Stan Lambert, a Republican from Abilene, remarked that seeing the students don the school’s maroon-and-grey colors and fill most of the committee room’s seats sent a “strong statement.”

“I’ve been asked many times why did I go from the Armed Forces, from being privileged to serve the colors of our nation to Texas Southern and you’re looking at it right now, right behind me,” Crawford said of the students.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Disclosure: Texas Southern University - Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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