FW: Re: New Financial Aid Awards and Fall Semester Update

1 message

Jennah Jones <jjones@law.uci.edu> Tue, Jul 21, 2020 at 3:09 PM

To: Jennah Jones <jjones@law.uci.edu>

Dear J.D. Students,

 
We hope you and your loved ones are staying safe and well. We are writing with some
updates about financial aid and the fall semester.
 
New Financial Aid Awards
 
The Regents of the University of California recently implemented a series of Professional
Degree Supplemental Tuition (PDST) increases for UC law schools. We have been working
hard to develop a financially viable way to mitigate the impact of the 2020-21 PDST increase
on our students, even as the University of California faces increasing operating costs,
decreasing revenues, and large budget cuts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
As a result of this work, we are happy to announce new one-time financial aid awards
intended to cover the costs of the 2020-21 PDST increase so our students don’t have
to. You will be hearing soon from Nasreen Zia, Director of Student Financial Services, with
details. 
 
In addition, we recently announced the establishment of new endowed scholarship
funds by generous supporters of UCI Law, including Carol and Eugene
Choiand Bridgford, Gleason & Artinian LLP, as well as one of our own faculty
members, Professor Carrie Menkel-Meadowand her husband Robert Meadow. The funds
will provide additional financial aid opportunities for our students in future years. We will
continue working with our community to provide further support for our students.
 
Update on Fall 2020
 
The law school’s contingency planning team worked for months to develop a plan for a
limited classroom component option for first-year students that would be consistent with
public health guidance. At our July 7 meeting with incoming first-year students, we
explained that due to the worsening public health situation we were increasingly doubtful
that we would be able to offer that option. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has
continued to worsen. The number of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths has
increased nationwide, in the state, and in the county. The State of California recently placed
Orange County on a monitoring list, requiring a variety of previously allowed in-person
activities to be shut down. These negative trends have changed the planning outlook for the
State of California, the UCI campus, and UCI Law.
 
As a result, we have concluded that we are unable to offer the limited classroom
component option for our first-year students as we had hoped.In addition, campus
officials have informed us that other in-person activity in law school facilities must also be
severely limited. We now expect that other activities we had previously planned for, such
as in-person office hours, will not be available at the beginning of the semester—however,
we plan to introduce them later in the semester if allowed under government and campus
public health guidance. We will continue to update you on these developments. 
 
The COVID-19 pandemic is not stopping lawyers, it is not stopping law students, and it
is not stopping UCI Law. The pro bonoand clinical programscontinue to actively serve the
community. For example, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced its
now-rescinded policy that would have barred international students from taking
exclusively online courses, UCI Law students and faculty leapt into action and filed a
lawsuit challenging the policy in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
We are confident that UCI Law students, staff and faculty will continue to do important and
impactful work in our courses and in the community in spite of the online environment
and the unprecedented challenges we are facing. 
 
Spring 2021 Outlook
 
We know many of you also have questions about the spring semester. We are eager to
resume in-person activities and will continue to evaluate and develop plans that move
toward this goal. However, our ability to be in person in the spring will depend on the
public health situation that then exists, as well as the public health guidance and directives
of the government, the University of California, and UC Irvine then in effect. We also
strongly favor an online option for spring 2021. However, our ability to offer that option
requires the approval of the American Bar Association, which has indicated that it may
withhold authorization if the pandemic subsides prior to the start of the spring 2021
semester. Therefore, we will need to plan for a variety of different contingencies. The
health of our community and the quality of our program of legal education will, as always,
be the law school’s guiding planning principles.
 
Looking Toward the Start of the Semester
 
The faculty continues to be hard at work preparing for fall 2020. Since May, UCI
Law’s Teaching and Learning Committeehas been training the faculty on effective online
teaching.The Committee’s first session included a presentation of the results of the spring
survey of students’ experiences with online learning and the challenges they faced.
Subsequent sessions focused on technology for online teaching, building online courses,
creating asynchronous videos, equity and inclusion in online courses, creating community,
and providing feedback and assessment to students online.
 
In addition, the Academic Skills Program (ASP) will soon be announcing training for
students on skills for effective online learning.ASP is working with UCI Law’s
Information Technology Team and the Teaching and Learning Committee to create a web-
based course to help students become effective online learners. ASP will also host live,
interactive training sessions to help ensure students are set up for success in their online
courses. ASP will continue to offer workshops and support throughout the fall semester.
 
Orientation will be virtual this year, but current students, faculty and staff will make
sure our new students have a warm welcome to the UCI Law community.UCI Law’s
Community Fellows program will continue. Community Fellows are upper class student
mentors for new UCI Law students. They plan community building activities to help all
incoming students get to meet, know, and interact with other students, faculty and staff.
First-year students will be introduced to their Community Fellows during orientation.
Beyond orientation, the Student Affairs team and Student Bar Association leaders are
planning a variety of virtual community building activities throughout the fall semester,
including trivia nights, a talent show, and more. 
 
The UCI Law community is resilient. We have no doubt that together we will make this a
successful semester and grow ever stronger as a law school. 
 
All our best,
 
L. Song Richardson, Dean
 
Christopher A. Whytock, Vice Dean