Fall Semester at Pepperdine Caruso Law

Announcement from Dean Paul L. Caron to students regarding the fall semester at Pepperdine Caruso Law:

Dear Students,

As you all know, throughout our planning for the upcoming fall, our two priorities have always been both your personal health and safety, and providing you with a rigorous and personalized academic experience that prepares you to be the lawyers and leaders the world needs. It is because of our unyielding commitment to these two principles—principles that stand at the core of who we are as a community—that I must announce today that Pepperdine Caruso Law will not hold on-campus classes this coming fall.

Like all of you, we have been closely monitoring government responses to the impact of COVID-19 on Los Angeles County, the home of our beloved campus. Last Friday, because of the spread of COVID-19 throughout the state, California governor Gavin Newsom announced new regulations for public and private K-12 schools—regulations that portend greater restrictions for higher education institutions in the coming days, weeks, and months. In response, Pepperdine University announced today that the fall semester will begin with the campus closed. In light of these announcements, the uncertainty they have generated as to our ability to physically open—and to keep open—the law school this fall, and the heightened health and safety concerns they reflect, we have made this extremely difficult decision to move all instruction at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law online for the entire fall 2020 semester.

ONLINE INSTRUCTION

Given our preparations for a hybrid instructional model in the fall, our faculty, staff, and administration have already been hard at work to ensure that all classes could be moved online if health and safety considerations demanded it, as they do now. Our move to online instruction for the entire fall will also allow us to provide the continuity of instruction and logistical certainty necessary to uphold the promise of Pepperdine Caruso Law, even in the unpredictable world in which we live. Later today, Dean Schwartz will be sending upper division students an email providing further updates related to the fall course schedule, including expanded online course availability and minor time changes.

CAMPUS ACCESS

While campus is not currently open, if State and County guidance authorizes re-opening of universities, the use of campus facilities like the library may be available; however, all law school classes will remain fully online for the duration of the semester. Additional information related to housing, academics, student health insurance, and other logistics is available here and will be further updated in the coming days.

FALL 2020

I continue to look forward to welcoming you to our campus as soon as conditions allow. Until that day, I am encouraged by the outstanding efforts of our faculty and staff as they prepare an academic year that is rigorous and meaningful regardless of the venue. In light of these developments, incoming 1L students may choose to defer admission (and scholarship, if applicable) to fall 2021. To do so, please email Dean Goodno and Dean Phillips by July 29.

As Pepperdine University president Jim Gash wrote on May 15, "Our faith informs our decisions, [and] the safety and well-being of our people come first." It is in this spirit that we embark on an unprecedented journey together.

With prayers for your continued good health,

Paul L. Caron