Columbia Law Students Get Exam Flexibility for Trauma on Grand Juries

Law students at Columbia University may petition to have final exams rescheduled based on their feelings on the controversial decisions of two grand juries not to indict police officers in the deaths of unarmed black men. The Wall Street Journal reported on an email sent by Robert E. Scott, interim law school dean, to students. “The grand juries’ determinations to return non-indictments in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases have shaken the faith of some in the integrity of the grand jury system and in the law more generally,” Scott wrote. “For some law students, particularly, though not only, students of color, this chain of events is all the more profound as it threatens to undermine a sense that the law is a fundamental pillar of society designed to protect fairness, due process and equality.” He added that "students who feel that their performance on examinations will be sufficiently impaired due to the effects of these recent events may petition" to have exams rescheduled.