More Grateful Than Ever to Be a Loyolan
Dear Alumni and Friends,
I hope and pray that you and your loved ones are doing well in these incredibly challenging times. We care deeply about the health, safety, and well-being of every member of our law school community—this will always be our first priority.
It will come as no surprise to you that our amazing students, faculty, and staff have joined together to address the many challenges the COVID-19 pandemic presents to our community. To ensure the health and safety of all of our students, and to ensure that our students will be able to continue their academic progress, we have now closed our law school building and have transitioned all of our on-campus classes to distance education. Our faculty and staff have devoted tremendous time and energy to shifting all of our nearly 200 classes to an online format so that our students will be able to continue to learn from their safe, remote locations.
Also note that all previously scheduled campus events through the rest of the semester have been cancelled. However, we are considering creative ways to bring some events to you virtually as well as the possibility of rescheduling certain signature events when the university resumes normal operations. I know that you share our students’ disappointment that our special gatherings such as the Barrister’s Ball, the Scholarship Dinner, the Dean’s Diversity Council, Commencement, as well as countless lectures, symposia, conferences, and receptions have had to be canceled, postponed, or reconfigured.
In addition, for the remainder of the semester, some of our communications and programming will inevitably look different. However, our ability and interest in supporting our students and alumni will never change. Now more than ever, critical programs like Loan Repayment and Assistance (LRAP) as well as fellowship and scholarship funding, will ensure our alumni and students are able to continue their journeys of becoming the legal professionals and ethical advocates our world needs.
As incredibly loyal and engaged alumni, you continue to model for our students the power of compassion and commitment to our Jesuit ideal of care for the whole person. As you might expect, our students are going through a really difficult time right now and are facing the prospect of tough times ahead in their personal and professional lives. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, and let’s work together on ways that we can provide special support for them on their paths ahead.
We have all been affected by the changes to our daily lives brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, in our most challenging moments and during this required separation, we have come together. Even as we practice social distancing, we have perfected spiritual closeness. I have already learned of firms and professionals in our state who are providing free legal services to those who have been the most immediately impacted by a rapidly changing economy and resulting business closures. These acts of kindness and selflessness remind me of our core Jesuit values and beliefs, which through the toughest times, remain stronger than ever.
For more than 110 years, our law school has been true to our core Jesuit values of service, knowledge, and a faith that does justice. Those core values have guided us through tumultuous times in the past, and I know that they will continue to guide us as we overcome these challenges together now. Because we will always be true to our core values, I have great faith that we will emerge from this stretch stronger than ever! I am so grateful to each of you for your ongoing dedication to our law school community and for your extraordinary wisdom and grace.
With best wishes for your good health, and with tremendous gratitude,
Michael
Michael J. Kaufman
Dean of the School of Law and Vice Provost
Dear Alumni and Friends,
I hope and pray that you and your loved ones are doing well in these incredibly challenging times. We care deeply about the health, safety, and well-being of every member of our law school community—this will always be our first priority.
It will come as no surprise to you that our amazing students, faculty, and staff have joined together to address the many challenges the COVID-19 pandemic presents to our community. To ensure the health and safety of all of our students, and to ensure that our students will be able to continue their academic progress, we have now closed our law school building and have transitioned all of our on-campus classes to distance education. Our faculty and staff have devoted tremendous time and energy to shifting all of our nearly 200 classes to an online format so that our students will be able to continue to learn from their safe, remote locations.
Also note that all previously scheduled campus events through the rest of the semester have been cancelled. However, we are considering creative ways to bring some events to you virtually as well as the possibility of rescheduling certain signature events when the university resumes normal operations. I know that you share our students’ disappointment that our special gatherings such as the Barrister’s Ball, the Scholarship Dinner, the Dean’s Diversity Council, Commencement, as well as countless lectures, symposia, conferences, and receptions have had to be canceled, postponed, or reconfigured.
In addition, for the remainder of the semester, some of our communications and programming will inevitably look different. However, our ability and interest in supporting our students and alumni will never change. Now more than ever, critical programs like Loan Repayment and Assistance (LRAP) as well as fellowship and scholarship funding, will ensure our alumni and students are able to continue their journeys of becoming the legal professionals and ethical advocates our world needs.
As incredibly loyal and engaged alumni, you continue to model for our students the power of compassion and commitment to our Jesuit ideal of care for the whole person. As you might expect, our students are going through a really difficult time right now and are facing the prospect of tough times ahead in their personal and professional lives. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers, and let’s work together on ways that we can provide special support for them on their paths ahead.
We have all been affected by the changes to our daily lives brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, in our most challenging moments and during this required separation, we have come together. Even as we practice social distancing, we have perfected spiritual closeness. I have already learned of firms and professionals in our state who are providing free legal services to those who have been the most immediately impacted by a rapidly changing economy and resulting business closures. These acts of kindness and selflessness remind me of our core Jesuit values and beliefs, which through the toughest times, remain stronger than ever.
For more than 110 years, our law school has been true to our core Jesuit values of service, knowledge, and a faith that does justice. Those core values have guided us through tumultuous times in the past, and I know that they will continue to guide us as we overcome these challenges together now. Because we will always be true to our core values, I have great faith that we will emerge from this stretch stronger than ever! I am so grateful to each of you for your ongoing dedication to our law school community and for your extraordinary wisdom and grace.
With best wishes for your good health, and with tremendous gratitude,
Michael
Michael J. Kaufman
Dean of the School of Law and Vice Provost