Law Schools

There's A Rise In Mental Health Issues At Columbia Law School And Students Say The Administration Has Done A Whole Lotta Nothing About It

Students are furious.

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Things are not okay at Columbia Law School. While it’s true that the pandemic is making everything more difficult (indeed, we’ve heard rumblings of issues at other elite law schools; ahem, email us or text us 646-820-8477 to sound off), the situation has reached a critical level at the school. Indeed, in the fall semester, the CLS Student Senate conducted a survey on students’ mental health, and the results are shocking — over 82 percent indicated that they experienced heightened anxiety, and over 65 percent indicated that they experienced heightened depression.

According to tipsters at the school, these concerns were communicated to Dean Gillian Lester in the fall but, from their perspective, not much was done about it. Many of the specific issues students cited were seemingly within the administration’s purview — stuff like a shortened academic calendar, the elimination of a reading week, and mandated strict adherence to the grading curve. So in order to make the spring semester better than the fall — particularly with things like “on-campus” recruitment scheduled to overlap with classes, and a new easier-to-catch strain of COVID making its way through New York putting additional strain on students — CLS Student Senate launched a petition (with over 780 signatories so far) asking for a litany of specific accommodations to the unprecedented situation. The petition included stuff like allowing students to permanently select a class as “credit/no credit,” broadening the exam accommodations as many students dealing with pandemic-related issues found themselves unable to qualify for exceptions to protocol in the fall, and creating reservable space at the university so students can take exams without distractions.

Dean Lester responded to the issue of mental health in an email sent Friday (available in full on the next page), which acknowledged the difficulties of law school during a pandemic, both from the administration’s and students’ perspective. And noting the shortcomings, “We’ve all had to learn and adapt along the way, much of the time without having the benefit of past experience to draw upon. Sometimes we’ve been more successful than others; at no time have we been perfect.”

The letter went on to tacitly acknowledge the petition, but also seemed to say there wasn’t too much the law school could do about it:

It’s clear to me that many in our community are hurting, feeling the weight of another difficult semester still in its early stages. And while we are actively exploring a variety of measures to alleviate some of that pressure in the near term, the hard truth is this: until the pandemic is brought under control, our way of life will continue to be harder—the job of climbing each day’s mountain made that much steeper.

It’s really that graph that has stuck under the craw of many in the CLS community. The Student Senate collected responses from fellow students and circulated those anonymized, and they did not hold back on their vitriol. Here’s a sampling of what students at the school are saying:

Dean Lester’s email essentially says, “Cut us some slack, because things are hard for us, too.” But we can at least ease the burden on our students. Will your ten-minute mindfulness session really help me cope with increased tuition, a shortened semester, no reading period for exams that determine our entire grades, with no adjustment to the curve or grading policy, in a global pandemic that cuts off our support systems? You say Columbia cares about students, but don’t back up your words with a structural response to a structural strain on our society. Dean Lester has made her decision, saying she wants to work with the Student Senate. Now, let her enforce it. -3L Student

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So Dean Lester’s response to everyone saying that the administration is making bad choices that needlessly make the pandemic situation harder is to say, “Yeah, COVID’s rough, huh” – 1L Student

Dear Dean Lester, We know all too well that the Pandemic is making everyone’s lives harder. Just because Columbia Law School cannot fix the Pandemic, it does not mean that Columbia Law School cannot take steps to mitigate the situation. If Columbia Law School is going to refuse to meet our demands, we at least deserve an explanation as to why doing so is not possible. Some of the demands could be easily met, which makes it even more infuriating that Columbia Law School is refusing to grant those. Further, it is clear that some of the problems are being created by Columbia Law School. Columbia Law School controls the grading system. It’s not believable to claim that law firms will decide not to hire Columbia Law school graduates because of changes to the grading. Columbia Law School also can make changes to the Columbia Law School schedule. A reading week is essential to our mental health and to equalizing disparities among the students. A reading week could be accomplished in multiple ways: having professors reschedule their classes from the last week or moving exams a week later. The exams are already online, so there would not be scheduling problems. (1L)

She basically said we know you are struggling and it sucks, but too bad so sad. Suck it up. (2L)

I would like to address this part of Dean Lester’s email: “the hard truth is this: until the pandemic is brought under control, our way of life will continue to be harder—the job of climbing each day’s mountain made that much steeper.” From a mental health perspective, this is one of the worst possible things to hear as a person struggling with anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. The administration has seen the frankly heart-wrenching stories that students are sharing on the instagram page, and have reached out to tell us that it will only get worse and that there is nothing we, or the people responsible for our wellbeing, can do about it. This is an unbelievable level of reckless disregard for student wellbeing, and the use of “we” and “our” language adds insult to injury – to act as if we are all in this together, when we are so clearly not, is really something else. (1L)

Plus an Instagram account was created seeking to document the personal experiences of students at the school.

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Like this one.

And this.

And this.

Dean Lester said she was committed to working with the Student Senate, but the response shows just how far apart the administration and student body are. For the sake of everyone at CLS, let’s hope something can be done to ease the strain.

headshotKathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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