Law Schools

Top Law School Decides Not To Make Basic COVID Accommodations For Students

I know Chicago is a windy city, but the law school is really committing to the cold shoulder bit.

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University_of_Chicago,_Harper_Library

(By Rick Seidel via Flickr)

Attending law school tends to be an expensive endeavor, and nothing says customer service quite like choosing not to accommodate the health needs of your customers. The University of Chicago Law School appears to have had enough of the being-off-campus business and decided to resume in-person instruction this semester on January 24th.

Dear Students,

I hope that the first few weeks of the quarter have gone well for you, even though we have been unable to gather together as a community. At this time, we are looking ahead to resuming activities at the Law School beginning this coming Monday, January 24. As we prepare for next week, I want to share some important updates on University and Law School protocols.

CLASSES

On Monday, January 24, classes will resume in-person instruction. All students should plan to return to Chicago if they have not done so already. Courses marked as “remote” on the course schedule will continue to meet via Zoom. Courses marked as “in-person” on the course schedule are not eligible for remote attendance. Regular absence policies will be in effect.

RECORDINGS

We will continue to provide audio recordings of all classes (except for some clinics, workshops, and Greenberg seminars). Students absent due to COVID-19 symptoms or a positive test may access the recordings. Recordings will be accessible via the course Canvas page.

At first glance, this doesn’t sound too bad actually. Until you factor in that it is  impossible to build a completely remote schedule this quarter, and, given that they’ve shown it was possible to build a complete schedule the last few quarters, the inability to do so now was a change the law school intended. On top of that, there is no remote option being offered for the in-person classes — even if you are immunocompromised or you live with family members and friends who are. Most of us know the old adage that law school scares you to death 1L, works you to death 2L, and bores you to death 3L, but it’s supposed to be one of those tongue-in-cheek phrases you commiserate with your cohort over. You shouldn’t actually be a 1L afraid that you’ll bring the plague you caught in Crim back to grandma. The administration has stonewalled students and professors who (rightly) want to prioritize their health with two options: suck it up or take a leave of absence. And in case you wondered, the administration is treating the lectures like Glengarry leads and not making recordings of the class available online for whatever reason.

(Un)surprisingly, this is not the first time that U. Chicago made the decision to respond to COVID by not responding. In 2020, U. Chicago decided to opt out of the temporary pass/fail switch many other schools adopted during the time, even after reading this petition signed off on by 247 students that drew attention to the danger COVID poses to the immunocompromised and chronically ill. In response to this recent snub, faculty, staff, and students penned this open letter to the administration asking for at minimum a February 14th start date at the earliest, a transparent disclosure of the health information the administration has based its decisions on, and “an open forum for the discussion and appeal of the administration’s decisions regarding our shared conditions of work, teaching, and learning.” In addition to this 900-signatory open letter, a few of the signatories shared their thoughts as well. It’s a mixed bag for sure, but here are a couple that stuck out to me.

*  It’s not like I prefer online school – I don’t think most people do. But I just don’t feel safe going back in person when nothing has changed COVID-wise. I really think nothing good can come from this, especially for people whose prior conditions really won’t afford them the chance to come back to somewhere where they might become seriously ill or even die. And I feel that if we go back in person now, maybe we’d have to sacrifice Spring quarter because of it, and that doesn’t seem ideal when we could do this now when the spread is so large. Going back in person might be preferable if things were good or normal COVID-wise, but they aren’t, not at all. We don’t need to do this.

*  I simply don’t understand why remote or hybrid can’t be an option. We have the infrastructure for it, and for some, that style of learning is better (particularly during a pandemic). The health benefits go without saying. I don’t think I’m participating more in the community by being in person. In fact, it’s easier to interact with others virtually because the stress of novel disease exposure is removed. I am already unable to fully enjoy regular in person interactions anyway because of COVID precautions. But I want those precautions and think it would be even more streamlined to go virtual (or have the option) until we have more clarity on where we are with riding out this pandemic.

*  As Mia Mingus says: You Are Not Entitled To Our Deaths We will not trade disabled deaths for abled life. We will not allow disabled people to be disposable or the necessary collateral for the status quo. We will not look away from the mass illness and death that surrounds us or from a state machine that is more committed to churning out profit and privileged comfort with eugenic abandonment. (read in full here https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/)

 * Please consider the impact the University’s decisions have not only on its internal constituents but its neighbors and surrounding community members. Our proximity forces us to bear the consequences of the University’s choices.

There has to be some reason the administration has decided to go through with this other than a callous disregard to their students dying because they got coughed on in the hallway. Maybe the school had a two-year subscription with Zoom and couldn’t bear the financial costs of a third? Either way, I truly hope that U. Chicago finds either the funding or the compassion to put the health of their students first over the next few days.

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Read the full email from the Dean of Students on the next page.

UPDATE (1/21/2022 2:12 p.m.): First, I would like to publicly apologize for my representation of the esteemed U. Chicago Law School. It has come to my attention that shit is actually way worse.

Apparently, in addition to drastically cutting down on remote class options, U. Chicago has decided to cut down on… sound quality? According to a tip, professors taught hybrid classes using clip-on mics. At the beginning, at least. For whatever reason, mid-year they stopped doing that and started recording from fixed stands with lower sound quality that barely caught the professor’s voice or the student’s cold calls. In light of this, keep in mind that the students who would rather have hybrid options would rather have poor quality audio on Chevron doctrine than attend in-person classes. Which is understandable, given that there appears to be no social distancing in the classrooms — the tipster describes the seats as being sat shoulder-to-shoulder. Unless the school will be passing out N-112s, they’re begging for people to get sick. The students aiming to grab a quick bite in the dining hall before infection are likely screwed too, given that the mask policy was rarely enforced in Green Lounge, a focal point of the law school. To drive the point home with an example:

[A] student came to the law school with one of those mesh “masks” with holes in it, presumably to own the libs, and she was allowed in the building. FedSoc member, naturally.

If U. Chicago goes forward with their in-person return on January 24th and becomes a COVID hotspot, I’d imagine the plan is to break out some boilerplate “None of us could see this coming” apology in the hope that everything will be made better. I hope that they are wrong.

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