DLSA and UTLU demand equitable, flexible, and safe education for all
On February 2, the University of Toronto Law Union (UTLU) penned a letter to Dean Jutta Brunnée stating that the Faculty’s COVID-19 policies fail to take into account the needs of its most vulnerable students. In the letter, the UTLU wrote that “the Faculty’s decision to require in-person learning in the middle of an ongoing health crisis […] speaks to how ‘returning to normalcy’ for some students is prioritised over the lives of disabled and immunocompromised law students and vulnerable community members.” The UTLU listed three calls to action for the Faculty: increasing access to accommodations and improving remote learning, improving transparency around re-opening and closure decisions, and making in-person learning safer for all.
The Disabled Law Students’ Association (DLSA) endorsed the UTLU’s requests for action in its own letter to Dean Brunnée on February 3. The DLSA emphasised that students should have access to remote learning accommodations for reasons beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. It noted that despite the Faculty demonstrating that it has the infrastructure and resources to provide remote access to classes, “it is deeply concerning that the administration continuously chooses to deny students with disabilities this accommodation.”
The DLSA and UTLU also wrote an open letter calling for safer learning at the Faculty. The open letter reiterated the UTLU’s original calls to action. As of publication, the letter has 123 student signatures and 13 signatories from various clubs and organisations.
In a joint comment to Ultra Vires, the DLSA and UTLU wrote that “the current model of individual accommodations requires vulnerable and disabled students students to expend extra labour to keep themselves safe.” They explained that many disabled students feel defeated by the Faculty’s accommodation bodies and have lost trust in them since students have been denied accommodations, either by Accessibility Services or by the Accommodations Committee at the Faculty.
The Students’ Law Society (SLS) echoed the calls to action in an email to students on February 15. The SLS had been advocating for the Faculty to allow for students with health, commute, caregiving, or childminding concerns to receive remote accommodations simply by contacting the Accommodations Committee. “While our recent advocacy efforts have not touched on all the issues raised in the petition, we have been discussing access to Zoom links, the quality of audio, and improved and proactive communications over the course of the year (including last summer), and have been asking about the provision of masks as well,” commented SLS President Willem Crispin-Frei (3L).
The DLSA and UTLU’s concerns are shared by students at McGill University Faculty of Law and Osgoode Hall Law School. Students at McGill Law voted to go on strike beginning January 31 to demand ongoing and equitable options for course delivery that accommodate participants joining remotely. The strike ended on February 6 when demands for hybrid and alternative methods of course delivery were met in all targeted classes. At Osgoode, a collective of students wrote an open letter to the school administration demanding “a learning model that prioritizes and centres the diverse needs of disabled, mature, racialized, and low-income students who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.”
On February 15, Associate Dean Christopher Essert advised students via email that individual professors are permitted to record and distribute their lectures to students. The Faculty will also provide lecture recordings to individual students in the context of ongoing or occasional accommodations. Previously, the Faculty had a blanket prohibition against lecture recordings.
In the same email, Associate Dean Essert announced that students may occasionally receive Zoom access to classes for non-COVID-19-related unforeseen events. Associate Dean Essert also stated that the Faculty secured a supply of KN95 masks; students may collect a package of five masks during the week of February 28.
Crispin-Frei indicated that the SLS has contacted Associate Dean Essert to clarify what “unforeseen” means. “The Faculty has repeatedly expressed that any remote links must go through the Accommodations Committee. In essence, this is the same process as the Fall [semester],” he added. The SLS is pushing for a different approach in which any accommodation process would involve a default grant of remote access, based on a short explanation and without need for documentation.
“Of all our requests, the administration has only promised KN95s. […] All of our other requests remain unaddressed,” commented the DLSA and UTLU. They also seek further clarification that students will have access to more than five masks for the remainder of the school year.
In response to a request for comment from UV, Dean Brunnée referred to Associate Dean Essert’s email. “We’re always grateful for input from students, and we are in communication with the UTLU and DLSA,” she added.
The DLSA has arranged a meeting with Dean Brunnée to discuss accommodations and ableism at the Faculty, although this meeting was offered prior to the DLSA’s February 3 email. Dean Brunnée has offered to meet with the UTLU following reading week.
