Schedule Updates and Resources

Meeting Students Where They Are

Spring 2021 Update

Dear WCL Community,

We write to follow up on President Burwell’s communication about American University’s plans for the Spring semester. WCL is guided by the same mandates that shape University-wide decisions--namely, that we remain student-centered, conscious of health and safety concerns, and flexible. In addition, we have tailored some of our policies to the particular needs of legal education and our law school community.

As President Burwell noted, AU has heard students’ desire for early communication in order to make appropriate plans for the coming term. As such, we want to be as transparent as possible. We have already noted that you may remain outside the DMV area for spring, and President Burwell just informed you that the University has canceled spring break and moved the start of the Spring semester back to Tuesday, January 19.

Now we write to share the rest of the framework for our ongoing plans. Many questions remain, to which we do not and cannot yet have answers. We ask for your patience; we will continue to update you as we finalize decisions. We also appreciate and have sought to respond to the feedback we have received from many of you. Throughout this process we seek to balance our desire to provide you with the best possible educational experience against the need to keep the WCL community safe.

Read the full message from Deans Dinerstein, Carle, Leiter, Campe, Jaffe, and Chernicoff for updates on campus facilities, tuition and fees, travel, and more