Spring 2020 Gavel 268650 SBAND Gavel Magazine_web | Page 24

FACING CHALLENGES TOGETHER: SBAND AND THE UND SCHOOL OF LAW MICHAEL S. MCGINNISS Dean, University of North Dakota School of Law The first months of 2020 have been hard and trying ones. The extraordinary challenges to the North Dakota legal profession and the UND School of Law stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic have tested our wits, our wisdom, and our wills in ways that we would never have expected when the year began. Amidst these struggles, however, I have also witnessed tremendous strength of spirit and common cause among our School of Law students, staff, and faculty, as well as among our North Dakota lawyers and judges. I am very pleased to say SBAND and the School of Law have been courageously facing these challenges together, and I am very confident we will continue to do so in the times ahead. I would like to take this opportunity to provide some updates about the School of Law’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic; how our alumni and friends have been supporting our students this semester; and encouragements for how we can work together to help our students and graduates this summer and beyond. I. Mandatory S/U Grading for Spring 2020 When you review applications from our UND Law students and graduates and 24 THE GAVEL see their class ranks, GPAs, or transcripts, it is important for you to know how and why Spring 2020 will be different than any other. Because of the unprecedented, mid-semester disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the School of Law faculty adopted a special policy for Spring 2020 that all grades are required to be “S” (Satisfactory) or “U” (Unsatisfactory), rather than using the standard letter grading scale of A-F. Under UND academic policies, a grade of “S” grants credit toward graduation, but does not affect a student's grade point average, whereas a grade of “U” does not grant credit toward graduation nor affect a student's grade point average. We already have several courses in our curriculum that are regularly graded S/U (e.g., Professional Foundations, Trial Advocacy, Externships, Law Review, and Moot Court); but this one-time policy for Spring 2020 covers all courses and was not optional for students. In the weeks leading up to our faculty’s adoption of this grading policy, I created an ad hoc committee that included administration, faculty, and our Student Bar Association president. I charged this committee to gather information about approaches other law schools were taking to grading in light of the COVID-19 pandemic impacts, and to identify and set out for our faculty the pros and cons of each approach. The committee also surveyed our students for their views, with an 88 percent response rate and many thoughtful arguments in favor of the various available options. Our faculty considered factors such as the specific timing of the disruptions, the mid-semester rapid change to remote instruction, and the projections and uncertainty about the developing situation in North Dakota in the remaining weeks of the semester. Then, along with a majority of other law schools in the region (e.g., South Dakota and Montana) and across the country (as of this writing, more than 75 percent), our faculty decided a mandatory departure from A-F grading this semester was the best option available to balance the actual and potential impacts on our students as a group. Our standard letter grading will resume in the summer and in the upcoming 2020-2021 academic year. In my memorandum to our students explaining the mandatory S/U grading decision for Spring 2020, I offered them the following words of advice: Please do not let these short-term changes in the extrinsic measurement of your academic performance lead you to sacrifice the opportunities our faculty are working diligently and creatively to provide to help you learn the material and develop your skills in the law. Amid the tremendous disturbances of this current crisis, I urge you to keep investing in your long-term future to the very best of your ability and to the greatest extent permitted by your circumstances. In this time of physical distancing, I am very confident that our students, staff, and faculty will be there for each other as a UND Law community to provide the support and strengthening we all need to remain resilient and meet the challenges that are before us. I am very proud to be your Dean, and together we will find our way through these troubled times. II. UND Law Alumni and Friends Supporting Our Students This Semester This semester, and as always, our UND Law alumni and friends have been wonderful allies in our legal education program; but in Spring 2020, these generous contributions of time, talent, and attention have taken on special importance. The example that stands out most in my mind, is the mentorship provided by almost 100 lawyers and judges to our first-year students in Professional Foundations (a.k.a, “ProfFound”). The