Students Want Exams Delayed: We Were Out Protesting

Minority students at three prestigious law schools want to delay final exams because they’ve been busy protesting grand jury decisions in the deaths of black men at the hands of white officers in New York and Ferguson and haven’t had time to study.

Student groups at Harvard Law School, Georgetown University Law Center and Columbia Law School say many students have been compelled to take action because the “national tragedy” implicated a judicial system they had chosen to join by studying law. They criticize administrators for largely staying on the sidelines.

“We led rallies, held vigils, and published an op-ed. You were silent on this issue,” the coalition wrote in a letter. “We petitioned the government, served as legal observers, created spaces of solidarity, drafted model legislation, and marched through the streets of Boston and Cambridge.”

Officials at the universities have said students can petition to have their exams rescheduled and the requests will be considered individually.

Columbia and Harvard also are offering students special sessions with trauma counselors, mental health professionals and professors to talk about the lack of indictments in the Brown and Garner cases.

This article appeared in print on page 5 of the December 12th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.