Coronavirus Update

A Message from Dean Diller, Associate Dean Sugin, and Professor Huntington to Students:

May 13, 2020

Dear Students,

Congratulations on finishing an unusually challenging semester! We know it has been hard for many of you as you have dealt with the sudden shift to online classes, the lockdown, and illness. It has been wonderful to see how you have rallied to support one another and how our community has worked together.

We hope that you can unwind a bit when exams are done. As your attention turns to the fall, we know you have many questions and concerns. Thank you for sharing your insights into your classroom experiences. Your reflections have already made a big difference in our deliberations for the upcoming academic year.

Our Commitment to You

We are committed to providing all of you with the top-notch education that brought you to Fordham Law School. Over the summer, faculty will be working hard to reimagine their approach to remote courses to ensure they are truly engaging and interactive. Beyond classes, we are committed to ensuring that student life will be robust, building community at our law school through student organizations, informal interaction, and connections between students and faculty.

Despite the public health uncertainty, we want to share a number of expectations for the fall:

• We will abide by all public health recommendations. Your health is our primary concern.
• Fall classes will begin at the usual time.
• We will open the building if possible. If it is open, we will manage the flow of people to adhere to public health rules and concerns. Consequently, some classes will take place online and many “in person” classes may have online components.
• If it is not possible to open the building, the semester will begin online. We will remain nimble, so that we can quickly shift class format, if necessary.
• J.D. students will be able to build all-online class schedules. Not every course will be available in an all-online format, but there will be a range of choices.
• Registration will take place in July. Courses will be designated as “online” or “in-person.” Classes designated as “in-person” may have online components.
• Co-curricular activities, such as journals and competition teams, and extra-curricular activities will continue in the fall, but the building will be used primarily for classes.
• Faculty are immersing themselves in best practices so that they are ready to make use of the many tools available for effective online teaching. The school will take steps to ensure opportunities for students to interact with faculty outside of formal classes.
• Our society’s needs will be great, and Fordham Law will continue to nurture public service through PIRC, centers and institutes, and clinics. We may have to adapt the ways in which these activities operate, but the work will continue.
• We will maximize study space in the building consistent with social distancing requirements.