Dean’s Announcement: Update on Classes for Spring Semester and Return to the Workplace

From: Dean Erwin Chemerinsky
Date: January 5, 2022

Dear Law School Community,

I hope you had wonderful holidays and that this will be the beginning of a happy, healthy new year.

I promised to update you with additional information as soon as I receive it. Yesterday, Interim Provost Cathy Koshland met with the deans on campus. Also yesterday, the Law School’s Contingency Planning Committee met. I apologize for the length of the message, but I know there are many questions and many concerns. Here’s what I know:

Classes: As previously announced, Law School classes the week of January 10 will be entirely online. Provost Koshland announced yesterday that the campus is still planning to return to in-person instruction on January 18. 

To be clear, deans of the schools that began before January 18 were accorded discretion to make the decision for their programs as to whether to be in-person or online for the time before the rest of campus resumes classes. As I wrote last week, I decided that classes for the first week, the week of January 10, should be online because of concerns about the spread of COVID and the availability of testing. 

But Provost Koshland was clear that starting January 18, it is a decision that will be made by the Chancellor and Provost for the entire campus. As of now, they are planning a return to in-person classes for the campus on that date. Obviously, they could change that decision based on the public health situation. I will let you know if I learn of any change in plans, but as of now, students and faculty should plan a return to in-person classes on January 18.

I know there is great anxiety over COVID and that some disagree with their decision. Provost Koshland said that based on the public health information they possess, they believe that the health of students, staff, and faculty will be protected by requiring full vaccination (including boosters), strict adherence to masking requirements, testing, and not having eating indoors.

Instructors with a serious medical condition (their own or in their household) that precludes teaching in person can request accommodation by providing medical documentation to Associate Dean Molly Van Houweling. Students who need accommodations on the basis of disability should contact our Assistant Director for Accessible Education, Chelsea Yuan at cdyuan@law.berkeley.edu.

Week of January 10: I have received many questions about the week of January 10. As mentioned above, there will be no in-person classes; all classes will be online the week of January 10. Whenever possible school-related activities should be held online. No mandatory meetings may be held in-person.

The Law Building will be open to law faculty, staff, and students from 8:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m. with your card key (CAL ID). (Students should use the entrance from Heyman Terrace, the entrance near Booth, or the Simon Hall entrance.) The physical Library will be closed, but online services will be available and the Library’s Main Reading Room on the second floor will be open. Café Zeb will be closed and no eating is allowed in the building. The bookstore will be in the Goldberg Room and open to students. For the protection of staff and patrons, the bookstore will restrict the number of students allowed in the space at one time. Properly fitted masks must be worn at all times.

Recording and attendance policies: We will be following the same recording and attendance policies as last semester. 

Recording: Although recording of classes (whether online or in person) is not required except in cases of disability accommodation, recording is one way to ensure that students who are quarantining after exposure, who are ill, or who have technical difficulties with online classes will be able to continue their studies (and won’t feel pressure to come to in-person class despite feeling sick). In addition, students have reported they find recordings useful for review. Alternative/additional ways to help students keep up and review include facilitating note-taking pools and distributing slides and/or lecture notes. Classroom recording is described here: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/information-systems-technology/instructional-technology/classroom-recording/. Zoom recording is described here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/105Zq7pEN4NohImNsG2bf7W7dvoG9neIUUzpSDBXC3P0/edit?usp=sharing.

Attendance: Subject to accommodations for students with disabilities, students are expected to attend the classes in which they are enrolled (in-person when classes are in-person or via real-time Zoom attendance when classes are conducted via Zoom). Instructors may, but are not required to, take attendance. Instructors may include participation in their grading only if that is specified in their syllabus. An instructor’s attendance and participation policy should allow students who are sick, or quarantining per campus policy, to miss class. 

Instructors who require students to participate in Zoom classes with their video on should allow for exceptions in cases where students are unable to comply due to lack of computer bandwidth, lack of private space for Zoom participation, etc.

Staff: As previously announced, staff may work remotely the weeks of January 3 and January 10, unless it is a position that requires presence in the building. But assuming that in-person classes resume on January 18, we then will need staff to return to the workplace as well. During the week of January 18, it is expected that staff will need to be in the building two days and can work remotely for two days, unless it is a position that requires a greater presence in the building. My expectation is that beginning the week of January 25, we will revert to where we were last semester: with staff expected to work in the building three days, but being able to work remotely two days. Obviously, as with everything, we need to closely monitor the public health situation and adjust this accordingly.

Testing: On Monday, Chancellor Christ wrote to faculty and staff: “Before returning to campus, we’re asking that you get tested. Ideally, you should get tested 1-3 days before being on campus and await a negative test before going back to work; this is especially important if you have travelled or attended large in-door gatherings within a week of your return.”

In other words, ideally, before your first time back on campus, you should have a negative test within 72 hours. The test can be at the campus facility (Recreational Sports Facility), or a health care provider, or a home test. You are not required to submit these test results.

The campus facility, RSF, has many appointments available this week and next week via the eTang portal. I expect it will be much more difficult to get appointments during the week of January 17. I encourage you to plan ahead for how you will be tested before your first time back on campus. For example, if you want to take advantage of testing on campus, the best strategy may be to get tested there this week or next week. Although the 72-hour window before you first come to campus is ideal, the Chancellor also said in her message to faculty and staff: “The earlier you get tested the better.” Campus also is purchasing a large quantity of home-administered rapid antigen tests, but it is not clear when they will be available or how they will be distributed.

Vaccination: All faculty, staff, and students must be fully vaccinated, unless they have received an exemption. Being fully vaccinated includes having a booster shot. Please upload your updated vaccine records to the eTang portal following these instructions: https://uhs.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/covid-etang-vaccine_records.pdf. If someone is not fully vaccinated, such as if they have not had a booster shot, they will be required to get tested once a week.

Masks: The campus and the Law School are continuing to enforce the same mask policy as last semester. As I mentioned last week, Campus health officials are urging people to replace cloth masks with N95 or KN95 masks. The Law School is purchasing a limited supply of KN95 masks for students, staff, and faculty (and we will provide details about how they will be distributed), but as in the Fall semester, it is each person’s responsibility to have a suitable mask. 

***

I, and all of us, wish we were past this and returning to normal, rather than dealing with the Omicron variant and the spread of COVID. I again ask for everyone’s patience as we deal with this difficult situation. It is hard to know where we will be in two weeks, let alone next month or later. I promise that I will keep you posted of all that I learn.

Warmly,

Erwin Chemerinsky

Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law
University of California, Berkeley School of Law

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