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After great reflection and study, I am writing to inform you that all of our Fall 2020 classes will be conducted remotely. …
[T]he best course—for the health of those in our community and for our educational program—is to have the Fall semester’s classes be online. Our top priority is protecting the health of our students, staff, and faculty. At the same time, we want to do what is best educationally for our students. …
I am convinced we can provide an excellent education via remote learning this semester and frankly a better education than we can through a limited number of in-person classes taught in a hybrid fashion. I also believe it is the safest course for the health of our faculty, staff, and students.
— Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of UC Berkeley School of Law, explaining in a letter to the law school community all of the reasons why the Fall 2020 semester would be held remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chemerinsky noted that there were far too many “obstacles to in-person classes” to overcome for the upcoming semester to be held in even a hybrid fashion. Like Harvard, the first law school to announce a fully remote Fall 2020 semester, Berkeley Law will be returning to its traditional grading system. There’s no word yet on whether Berkeley’s tuition structure will change due to holding online classes. Harvard is being sued over its “outrageous tuition” for remote classes.
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.