Oregon Law

Oregon Law Schools Announces Online Fall Term

The University of Oregon’s School of Law plans to go mostly remote this fall.

The law school will hold about 85% of its instruction remotely this semester with only a few upper-level classes and clinics being offered in-person, the Daily Emerald reports. While all first-year law classes will be remote, students will still have access to classrooms for in-class sessions.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC WOES

Back in March, the University of Oregon announced that it would go fully remote for the entirety of the spring term.

That forced instructors to figure out a way to get equipment to students and adapt to online learning.

“I will have to reduce course material, but it will kind of force me to get down to the essence of what’s important in this class,” UO professor Sung Park told The Register Guard back in March. “But I’m pretty confident that (students will) still be able to gain the knowledge that they need, and if I have to meet them one-on-one, and if it’s safe, I’ll do that.”

The remote learning environment was a struggle for many first-year law students.

“I was 600 miles away from my home and I don’t know anybody out here,” Kathryn Loden, who started her first year this past semester at UO Law, tells the Daily Emerald. “And because everything is on lockdown and social distancing, it’s really hard to meet my classmates.”

But Loden says the university ultimately made the right decision in hosting most of the fall semester online.

“I think if we had all been in person, that would have just been a colossal disaster like we’ve seen all over the country so far,” she tells the Daily Emerald. “So I think putting the first semester completely online is a very good choice.”

Sources: Daily Emerald, The Register Guard