Law Schools

[UPDATED: Good News] UVA Deciding Whether To Force Student To Withdraw From Law School Because Her National Guard Unit Was Called Up

Read the room, UVA.

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What it feels like every time we re-read this story.

[UPDATE: We’ve learned that the school will not be asking her to withdraw. Full story here.]

When it comes to scoring public relations points off of the troops, UVA Law is right in there. But when it comes to actually supporting the troops during a national emergency, the administration pops its proverbial collar and looks the other way.

Frannie Skardon of the Class of 2022 serves in the NY National Guard and was called up by Governor Andrew Cuomo on March 17. At the time, the mass migration to online classes hadn’t started yet so she wasn’t sure how it would work out, but in due course UVA joined the rest of the civilized world in offering online courses and her unit allotted her 6 hours a day to commit to law school studies so she’s not seen any interference with her ability to attend class or participate in class discussion.

One would expect the school to cook up a glowing press release touting the member of the law school community saving lives and serving her country while still earning her law degree. You know, like Columbia already did.

But UVA Law isn’t here for any of that “common sense.” As Skardon explains in her petition to fellow students, after she informed the school that she had been activated, the administration responded:

To my surprise, the administration responded to my email and stated that I am in violation of Academic Policy I.H., which deals with employment while attending Law School. This policy states that “students may not engage in employment in excess of what is compatible with a full-time commitment to the study of law.” As a result of my unit’s activation, the administration has determined that I cannot complete the remainder of the semester.

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The school has gone so far as to say they won’t issue a waiver of their dogged commitment to this nonsense because Skardon is being paid by the Army while activated. They want her to retake all of her classes in Spring 2021 and throw off her whole law school track even though she’s empirically keeping up with her studies, blunting the only semi-rational argument UVA can cobble together.

Skardon did not reach out to Above the Law, but approximately every other UVA student did in the span of about 30 minutes. It’s the kind of outpouring that gives you hope.

UVA Law, meanwhile, has given her a total of 24 hours to appeal to the Academic Review Committee. 24 hours?!?! In a time of crisis, only the most arbitrary of exploding deadlines will do!

If you’re one of those people who see how foolish this is — which I have to assume is most of you — there’s a petition available here. According to the petition, Skardon would also “appreciate any letters of support sharing why you think an exception should be granted and how COVID-19 has impacted your life.” I’ll go one better and make a special appeal to any veterans out there among lawyers or law students who can speak to what this kind of snub means.

Mary Wood, chief communications officer for the University of Virginia School of Law, reached out after the story was published to make clear that “A final decision has not been made in this matter. The Law School cannot comment further on ongoing matters involving individual students.”

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UPDATE: Because I’ve not spoken with the student because she’s not talking to media, the original version of this article included her email because it was in the petition — that’s been changed.

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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