BOSTON -- The Board of Trustees of the University of Massachusetts has decided, in an overwhelming vote, to get the state's public higher education system into the law school business. And we would agree that is a good thing.

Specifically, UMass will add a sixth campus to its current system by acquiring Southern New England School of Law, a small law school, albeit currently not accredited, on the state's southeastern border in Dartmouth, Mass. As one might predict, some of the state's well-established private law schools have expressed their opposition to what could become a formidable local competitor.

The goal would be to offer an affordable law degree, with emphasis on affordable, to state residents, in the same way that the best and brightest of Massachusetts are able to acquire an affordable medical degree at the University's medical school in Worcester.

In fact, UMass Medical should serve as the model for the new law school. The medical school, established only in 1970, is already ranked among the top five primary care teaching institutions in the country ... and today includes a new state-of-the-art medical and life sciences research facility. And it is part of a health care complex that is the largest employer in central Massachusetts.

The law school proposal offers the same exciting potential. The vote of the trustees must now go before the state Board of Education, which hopefully will share the vision of putting Massachusetts on the road to being able to offer future students a quality and affordable law degree as well.