SU formally opens College of Law’s Dineen Hall

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Syracuse University (SU) College of Law on Friday formally opened its new Dineen Hall with a series of grand-opening events involving students, faculty, alumni, friends, and the legal community.

The new hall becomes the sixth venue to serve as home to the College of Law, Marc Malfitano, chairman of the college’s board of advisors, said to begin his remarks during Friday’s ceremony.

SU hosted the event in a covered tent outside the entrance to Dineen Hall at 950 Irving Ave., with the street blocked on either side to accommodate the nearly hour-long ceremony.

Richard Gluckman, a graduate of the SU School of Architecture and a principal with New York City–based Gluckman Mayner Architects, served as the lead architect on the project and spoke during Friday’s grand opening.

“Our consultants, especially the engineers, bought in early and collaborated on the design of a high-performance building that achieved LEED gold [status],” Gluckman said.

The 200,000-square-foot Dineen Hall is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold-certified.

Hueber-Breuer Construction Co., Inc. of Syracuse was the general contractor on the project.

Dineen Hall is situated on a site just west of the college’s former buildings, E.I. White Hall and Winifred MacNaughton Hall, SU said in a news release. It’s also located across Irving Avenue from the Carrier Dome.

White and MacNaughton Halls have been repurposed for other campus academic and programmatic use, SU said.

The Dineen family provided the new building’s naming gift to honor the legacy of their parents, Carolyn Bareham Dineen and Robert Emmet Dineen Sr., both of whom were graduates of the SU College of Law, according to the SU news release.

Robert Dineen, Jr. in April 2010 announced that his family would provide a $15 million naming gift to the College of Law for the project, according to an SU web page with information about Dineen Hall.

The formal opening was part of a series of activities on Friday to acknowledge the new law school’s opening.

Theodore McKee, chief judge of the third circuit court of appeals and a 1975 College of Law graduate, presided over the day’s events.

McKee delivered an inaugural address in the building’s Melanie Gray Ceremonial Courtroom, a 300-seat auditorium for advocacy competitions, the judiciary and lecturers, according to the SU news release.

Several circuit-court judges also gathered for a “Conversation from the Bench,” including McKee, James Graves, Jr., Carolyn Dineen King, Rosemary Pooler, and Thomas Reavley.

The judges discussed legal issues such as the state of judicial independence and judicial legitimacy “in an age of partisan gridlock and political polarization,” according to the release.

Carolyn Dineen King, the daughter Carolyn Bareham Dineen and Robert Emmet Dineen Sr., also spoke during the opening ceremony.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com