Summary: Three Baltimore area law schools have provided alternate exam schedules in response to the protests and riots taking over the city.
The University of the District of Columbia David A Clarke School of Law has decided to postpone one final exam for students that provide legal support to Baltimore protestors. The legal students can delay that one exam until May 11.
Since Monday, Baltimore has experienced protests and riots over the death of Freddie Gray on April 19. Gray died while in police custody from spinal injuries. Baltimore is now under a 10 pm curfew. The relationship between black communities and police has been strained for months since several similar cases have occurred.
The David A Clarke School of Law is located 30 miles from Baltimore. Wednesday was the first day of exams.
The University of Baltimore closed at 2 pm Wednesday but the School of Law at that university had not yet taken finals.
The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law closed at 2 pm on Monday and at 7:30pm on Tuesday and Wednesday so that students and employees could obey the 10 pm curfew. This school began their finals on Monday but is allowing students the ability to taken the exams at home. The school was unsure of when they would be open since things were so violent so they decided to give their students flexibility. Students can download testing software to their computer any time over a two day period of when the exam is scheduled. The software prevents them from accessing other parts of their computer such as the internet or hard drive in order to prevent cheating. A few students wanted the tests to be postponed, but most did not want to push back exams any farther.
Columbia Law School, Georgetown University Law Center and Harvard Law School have also had conflicts with their final exam schedule with the protests in Missouri and New York after the grand juries declined to indict police officers for killing black men.
The Dean of David A Clarke School of Law, Shelley Broderick, understands that the best trained lawyers will be needed to address the police-accountability movement, aiding in their decision to allow students the opportunity to provide legal support to those involved in exchange for pushing one exam back.
Source: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/home/id=1202725007562?slreturn=20150330124034
Photo: nytimes.com