COVID-19 First-Person Perspective: Dean Martin Brinkley, UNC
In Carolina Law’s 175-year history, we have never experienced a semester like this one. Wars have taken the size of the faculty and the student body down almost to single digits, but we have never tried to operate a full-sized school of nearly 600 students and more than 120 faculty and staff without some kind of shared physical arrangement.
In March 2020, we were quickly able to begin teaching remotely, although we had no idea for how long. I am still in awe of how seamlessly our students, faculty and staff transitioned and how quickly they made it work. It was not ideal, but it was necessary. In May, we grieved the loss of our Commencement ceremony, where we recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of three years of hard work.
COVID-19 has affected all of our students in some way. Some lost their summer jobs. Others had to switch to remote jobs. Still others had to deal with difficult personal or professional decisions. In July, our 2020 graduates had to decide whether or not to take the North Carolina bar examination in person or postpone taking it until February. Under the best of circumstances, decisions of this magnitude would be complicated and daunting. I applaud our students’ courage in making the decisions that seemed best to them, at a time when it felt as if no right decisions were to be found.
In August, we welcomed an impressive 1L class comprised of 183 students who participated in Carolina Law’s first online orientation. They had less than a week of in-person classes before the public health situation in Chapel Hill and on the UNC campus forced us to switch once again to remote learning, making it more difficult for them to find and nurture those special, lifelong friendships that are created during the first year of law school.
I have tried to spend as much time as possible speaking with students who are struggling with the condensed semester, no fall break, and uncertainty about the future; who are worried about racial and civil unrest and the political situation in our country; and who can’t guess how COVID-19 will continue to affect their families, their friends and their professional ambitions.
The profession of law is ultimately a human endeavor. It attracts people who like people. For all of us, the missing human element in our daily lives is one of the hardest things about the pandemic. Everyone is worn thin and has Zoom-fatigue. Our students mourn the loss of social interactions that help them through the shared experience of law school. Our staff and faculty are weary and worried as well. Yet I have been dean here long enough now to trust in the valiant resilience of this community of learning.
Carolina Law is a place of tremendous strength and, however great the challenges we confront, optimism. Our great profession constantly tests our resolve and our dedication for justice. The world needs lawyers now more than ever. We must be steadfast in our commitment to train them. Carolina Law is up to the task, whatever it may require of us.
Martin H. Brinkley serves as Dean and Arch T. Allen Distinguished Professor of Law at the UNC School of Law.