As recently as 2019, there were a couple of things that seemed immutable about the law school learning formula. Notes or even recordings are helpful, but you can’t compare that to the magic that is in-person teaching.
Then COVID came along and proved that generations of lawyers were hoodwinked by sleight of hand. Thinking like a lawyer got forced online and proved that not only could most classes have been a Zoom call, but that a great deal of legal work could have been figured out from our laptops. After living through seeing how law schools can adapt to unexpected learning conditions, Wayne State University’s response to a law student looking for learning accommodations doesn’t really pass muster. Law360 has coverage:
A student at Wayne State University Law School alleges the university violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing to allow her to attend class remotely or provide other accommodations due to her disabilities.
According to a 15-page complaint filed in the Eastern District of Michigan on Friday, Hind Omar — who is blind and sufferers from chronic mental illness, according to the complaint — was told by the university when she asked to attend classes remotely that her accommodations would be a “fundamental alteration” of the law school’s course of study.
“The law school’s frequent response to Ms. Omar’s requested accommodations was, ‘That is not how we do it here,'” the complaint states.
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The administrators must have a short memory. They might not do it that way now, but they did very recently — COVID and all — so the claim that recording lectures would be a “fundamental alteration” to the law school is hyperbolic at best. What’s the big change? Did the school’s tech guy change his phone number? Can’t afford to prop a phone camera so Omar can Zoom in? It would have been more honest if the school responded with a poop emoji.
The school’s response amounted to the cookie cutter “We do our best to comply with the ADA” that you’d expect. As the case develops, I look forward to a judge’s eventual “No the hell you didn’t.” In the meantime, you can read the complaint here.
Wayne State Univ. Law School Violated ADA, Student Alleges [Law360]
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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.