From the Dean

Navigating a New Normal

I write this as the new semester is beginning. I know that it will be unlike any other, as the continuing COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to have online classes and events. Being online will change many things, but it will not and must not alter the quality of the education we provide, our commitment to public service, and our intellectually vibrant, warm community. Our faculty and students did an amazing job of quickly transitioning to remote education in March. There has been intensive work over the summer to do even better with online classes in the new semester. Also, we want to do all we can to make this a great experience for all of our students. We have created new one-unit classes for our 1Ls and our LL.M. students, each with no more than 10 students, as well as new upper-level courses. We also are looking for ways to build community, such as Zoom hallways and study halls and social events. I am so proud of the enormous pro bono work done by our faculty and students to deal with the legal issues arising from COVID-19. Some of that work is described in these pages.

Also, we must be part of our nation’s long-overdue reckoning with issues of anti-Blackness and racism, and some of that work is also described in the pages ahead. This must take many forms. We have created a series of programs on race and the law. Programs have focused on race and policing, race and public health, race and elections, race and the criminal justice system, race and the environment, and race and legal education. Future programs will look at law student activism against racism, race and K-12 education, race and housing, and much more.

We are looking to create additional courses that focus on issues of race and racial justice. I also strongly encourage every professor to do more in his or her classes to look at these issues. There is no area of law unaffected by racism. I am asking our Equity and Inclusion Committee to look carefully at Berkeley Law and what we can do better. Most of all, Berkeley Law is a wonderful, warm community — of students, staff, faculty, and alumni. Never has this been more evident than over the past difficult months. This, too, is reflected in these pages. It has been wonderful to watch our community come together and help each other in these difficult times. I wish everyone, and all of your loved ones, good health and safety. I am very excited for the new school year, though it will be very different from anything we have experienced before.

Warm regards,

Erwin Chemerinsky Dean, Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law