'I now feel trapped, facing down another semester of struggling to learn remotely': Law school moves classes online

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Boyd School of Law will start the first two weeks of the spring semester online. Select classes will also be taught remotely for the entire semester, according to an email sent to students on Jan. 5.

Absolutely unbelievable. This is the email UNLV Law sent to their students today. Classes being moved virtual PERMANENTLY. There is NO legitimate reason for this other than a desire to absolve the university administration from any responsibility to deliver an actual education. pic.twitter.com/paNFCIAKX1

— Rachel Jessica Wolff (@RachelJessWolff) January 5, 2022

Classes that have gone permanently remote for the spring include some first-year courses—like all sections of Constitutional Law 1 and LP2—and two upper-division courses, Labor Law and Law & Religion.

The UNLV School of Law referred Campus Reform to its statement on the decision, which explains the policy was due to case numbers reaching “a pandemic high.”

[RELATED: Duke, Princeton, more universities impose delays, new restrictions due to Omicron]

“COVID-19 case numbers, positivity rates, and hospitalization rates are rising quickly in Clark County and throughout Nevada,” the statement reads.

“In order to protect the Boyd Law School and Las Vegas communities,” the statement continues, “the law school made the decision to move all classes online for the first two weeks of the spring semester, after which time we are optimistic that we will be able to return to mostly in-person classes.”

The school goes on to say that it will “continue to monitor the situation throughout the month and make any necessary adjustments based on public health guidance.”

[RELATED: Yale tells students they cannot ‘eat at local restaurants,’ citing COVID fears]

UNLV Law student Justin Branum criticized the decision on Twitter, saying that he has always dreamed of law school but is now questioning his decision to attend UNLV.

I’d dreamed of going to law school my whole life. I received a phenomenal offer from UNLV and decided to move across the country and leave Alabama, the state I fell in love with in my 4+ years there. A year later and I question that decision. (1/12) https://t.co/DSVSTymb8e

— Justin Branum (@jbranum16) January 6, 2022

“To put it frankly, remote learning absolutely sucks. I wouldn’t wish ‘Zoom University’ upon my worst enemy,” he wrote, adding that he feels “trapped” due to another semester of remote courses.

I now feel trapped, facing down another semester of struggling to learn remotely due to the refusal of the deciding forces to follow the science, facts, and CDC guidance. (11/12)

— Justin Branum (@jbranum16) January 6, 2022

“There is absolutely no scientifically-based reason to be moving classes of a fully vaccinated and mask-mandated population online THROUGH MAY. Not a single prominent medical professional/health expert supports this. Not one,” Branum said.

Campus Reform has recently reported on numerous other instances of universities reinstating highly restrictive mandates due to a perceived threat from COVID, such as Yale’s decision to ban students from eating at local restaurants and enforce a campus-wide quarantine and a Princeton University policy that bars students from traveling outside the county.

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