Law Students Rally for Exam Delay Due to Trauma of Grand Jury Rulings

Students at several law schools, including Harvard, have
requested to postpone exams due to trauma caused by
the recent grand jury decisions.
Image:  Shutterstock

Law students at Columbia, Georgetown, and Harvard have all requested that final exams be postponed for students who feel they have been “traumatized” by the grand jury decisions in the Ferguson and Staten Island cases.

“Unless you act now, you will allow the systematic underperformance of a great many students of color and allies on this campus on their exams,” a student coalition wrote to Harvard administrators. “We cannot walk away from our pain, and we cannot ignore our call to act against the injustice that threatens our families and our commitment to the justice system.”

Columbia Law School has officially agreed to allow the postponements, and a small number of students have already postponed, though Columbia spokeswoman Elizabeth Schmalz declined to say how many.

While some are seeing this move as a sign of solidarity between students and staff deeply affected by the cases, others see it as far too much handholding of people who, if they become lawyers, are likely to face many such challenging court decisions.

“If law students are upset about the grand jury decisions, perhaps they should rededicate themselves to their coursework in hopes of one day working to reform the system or standing up for those abused by it,” wrote Robby Stoave in the Reason.com blog.  “But if disappointing legal decisions render them truly unable to function...well, they aren't going to make very good lawyers.”

Harvard at least has delayed law school exams for traumatic events in the past, such as when students participated in the 1970 protests against the Vietnam War.  Could the current situation be similar?  Or is it completely different?

“This is more than a personal emergency,” Harvard students wrote of the Michael Brown and Eric Garner decisions.  “This is a national emergency.”

To date, students will be allowed postponements, but only on an individual basis.