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#Faculty, staff let go at WMU Cooley Law School campuses across Michigan

LANSING -- Faculty and staff cuts have been made at Thomas M. Cooley Law School the same week that the school formally added its affiliation with Western Michigan University to its name.

James Robb, associate dean of external affairs for Cooley, confirmed Friday that the school has let go some faculty and staff members at its Michigan campuses.

"As part of the financial management plan we announced at the beginning of July, we have begun some reductions in faculty and staff," Robb said. "We re doing this to continue to right-size the organization to match our enrollment."

Robb said he did not have specific numbers for how many faculty members or staff had been let go, but said all the employees involved were being offered severance packages. The layoffs are expected to be the only round of cuts the school will make, he added.

"These reductions are not going to change the academic program," Robb said. "The same classes will be taught, the same services will still be offered to the students."

The school announced earlier this year that it would look to reduce expenses because of declines in enrollment, and the Ann Arbor campus will not accept incoming first-year students for the fall.

Students and staff at the Ann Arbor campus are bracing for a potential closure of that branch, a situation that the school's student bar association president called "pretty devastating ."

Cooley and WMU formally announced earlier this week that accreditation bodies including the American Bar Association had signed off on their partnership, and Cooley's campuses in Lansing, Grand Rapids, Auburn Hills and Ann Arbor were formally branded with the WMU name.

Cooley also operates a campus in Tampa, Florida, that will also bear the WMU name if the arrangement is approved by higher education regulators in that state.

Brian Smith is the statewide education and courts reporter for MLive. Email him at bsmith11@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook .