Dear Berkeley Law Students and Instructors,
Our general policies provide that each class must be taught for the fully allotted time each week, without the early release of students, and any canceled class must be rescheduled. Only designated instructors may teach our classes (including by being present during any guest lectures).
We realize (now more than ever!) that emergencies may happen – such as Internet or power outages, evacuations, and health crises – that require an instructor to unexpectedly cancel, delay the start of, or interrupt class. If the instructor is unable to send a bCourses announcement to communicate about such a situation, then, if possible, the instructor should call the Law School’s emergency number (510-642-6483) to report the problem. Word then will be disseminated to the students in the class, via bCourses announcement, as soon as possible. Note that this number is staffed during weekday business hours. If you teach outside of these hours, you should have received an email providing you with an alternative emergency contact. Please reach out to Charles Cannon (ccannon@law.berkeley.edu) if you did not. (And please keep your phone charged so you can call these numbers if you need to!)
There might be situations where an emergency prevents the instructor from being able to post an announcement on bCourses or to call the emergency number. So our general policy is that if the instructor does not appear, without notice, after 15 minutes students may assume that class is not going to meet that day (unless students have received other guidance from the instructor). Likewise, if a class is interrupted, students can assume after 15 minutes of continuous, unresolved interruption, and in the absence of any other information from the instructor, that the class will not resume.
We also ask instructors to tell students the best way to communicate with them about student emergencies, outages, etc. We again urge all of our instructors to be especially sensitive to the many ways in which students may be impacted by emergency circumstances this semester. Our Student Services staff is available to help both instructors and students navigate these challenges.
Finally, instructors please note that if you have been granted essential employee status for purposes of using your office to deliver remote instruction (or for any other reason), you will not be permitted to use your office in the event of a power shutoff affecting campus. If you suffer a power outage at home that is not affecting campus, please do not come into your office unless you have already been granted essential employee status.
-Molly Van Houweling
Associate Dean