Associate Deans Decide to Make the Small Groups One Semester for the 2020-2021 Academic Year
Students entering 1L in Fall 2020 will have their small group class in fall semester only, rather than the full-year format offered in the past. Legal Process has also been moved from the Winter term to the Fall term. First-year students now have Legal Process, small group, Legal Research and Writing (LRW), and one substantive law course in the fall, with the three remaining large-group substantive law classes in the winter.
According to a statement by Associate Dean Essert, the changes were due to constraints imposed by COVID-19.
“The changes are not meant to reflect any decision about the ideal structure of small groups, but were […] a personnel decision of the sort that is within the prerogative of the Associate Dean’s office,” he adds.
According to Assistant Dean Faherty, “The Associate Deans wanted to prioritize offering the small group for first year students in person, whenever possible. Focussing on faculty who were teaching in-person reduced the available number of people who could teach a small group.”
“The previous Associate Deans did consult with the entire faculty […] and there was a clear consensus that it was an appropriate set of adjustments to the curriculum for this year given these unique circumstances,” says Associate Dean Essert.
According to a statement by the Students’ Law Society (SLS), SLS was only made aware of the changes when course schedules were released to the student body on June 26. “We are disappointed that the Faculty chose to implement these changes without considering student input. Further, the Faculty’s decision may have been required to proceed through the Faculty Council.” However, the SLS maintained their commitment to engaging with the Faculty in a productive dialogue to ensure the best possible student experiences for the 1L class.
The changes came after the Curriculum Committee submitted a proposal in March 2020 to alter the 1L curriculum to shorten the year-long small group to first semester, extend LRW into the second semester, and add a 1L moot. The proposal elicited a negative response amongst both students and faculty, with students launching a petition that called for Faculty Council to reject any changes until more detail and greater consultation could be provided. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, Faculty Council was suspended for the 2019-2020 academic year. It remains to be seen whether it will be addressed at the first meeting this year on October 7.
Read about the March 2020 Faculty Council discussion on the 1L curriculum here.
