Coronavirus (COVID-19): Information for Students

Make sure you follow the guidance for protecting yourself and staying healthy issued by the University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Both pages are updated frequently with the latest information.

Common signs of infection include fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties. Please refer to the CDC site for more detailed information.

If you are in Durham and ill with the symptoms outlined above, contact Student Health at 919-681-9355, option 2 and ask to speak to a triage nurse. If you are elsewhere, please contact your primary care provider or the local public health authorities for additional guidance.

If you are diagnosed with COVID-19, please contact Student Health and Dean Gustafson (gustafson@law.duke.edu or 919-613-7229) so that Duke may take appropriate measures to safeguard the University community and provide you any support you may need.

In general, your classes will take place on the same days and at the same times as ordinarily scheduled, via the remote platform your faculty has selected. Please review all communications from your faculty carefully to be sure you’re aware of any scheduling shifts or changes. If you have concerns about attendance for a specific class, please contact your faculty member directly.

This is new to many—so our top piece of advice is to be patient! There may be lags as students turn their microphones on and off to ask or respond to questions, there may be times your connection freezes up or even drops, and it may be distracting to see the video feeds of other students. It will take time to adjust to this new method of learning and teaching.

A trial run before your first class would be a worthwhile use of your time. Consider where you want to be—is there a quiet place with minimal distractions where you can both listen and talk when needed? What does the screen look like on your laptop or monitor—will you need to take handwritten notes so that you can see both the video feed and any presentation slides? If you and a roommate are in the same class, you can notify your professor that you plan to watch together.

We are still exploring how the Law School might best support students in this circumstance. The University has directed students to contact keeplearning@duke.edu with questions about access to electronic devices and/or internet beyond Duke’s campus.

If this applies to you, please also contact Student Affairs so that we can continue to determine the scope of the problem and adjust our response accordingly. One possible, immediate solution for those eligible for federal loans is to contact the Financial Aid Office to request a budget increase to permit you to borrow additional loan funds in order to establish better internet service at home. If you are ineligible to borrow federal loans, please still contact the Financial Aid Office to discuss other options.

In addition, if you’re in Durham (or any Charter/Spectrum market) and are not a current subscriber, Spectrum is offering two months of free internet starting on Monday for any households with students. Please call their sales number at 888-381-3904 to set up your connection. After two months, accounts will be charged at the market rate, but we understand that there is no contract and you are free to cancel before charges begin. Spectrum WiFi hotspots will also be open to the public.

If you’re away from Durham, check with your local provider for any applicable programs. You can find Comcast's offer here.

First, don’t panic—we know there will be a learning curve and perhaps some technical difficulties. Next, try to reconnect. If you’re unable to reconnect, please rest assured that faculty are planning to record classes held via Zoom and you will be able to watch what you missed. Please follow your professors’ instructions, including letting them know that you lost your connection if they so request. If your session did not record for some reason, we will help with developing alternate ways to access the missed material.

Yes, there will be virtual office hours. Your professor will provide information about their plans, and may take different approaches depending on the type and nature of a given course. Please be flexible and understand that your professors are all committed to providing you with an opportunity to connect and ask questions.

Per the e-mail sent to the Duke community on March 13, the remainder of spring semester will take place via remote learning; there will be no in-person classes this spring.

Right now, we are focused on the shift to remote learning, with plans still in the early stages for how final exams and papers will be administered remotely. We will keep you informed as these plans develop—but regardless of the form they take, you will not be expected or required to return to Durham or Duke.

We know you have a lot of questions about how, exactly, C/NC grading will work, including the notation that will be included on your transcripts, potential impact to your cumulative GPAs, eligibility for Latin honors and other recognitions, and post-graduation considerations such as bar eligibility and employment effects. We are working on those details now and will continue to provide regular updates here over the coming days and weeks. Please check back regularly; if there are questions we have not addressed, please contact Dean Lacoff or James Lambert with specific academic advising issues.

You may return to the Law School before 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 16, to pick up any textbooks or other materials you need for your coursework, and you may stay in the building only as long as necessary to retrieve your materials. After that time, access to the building will be restricted to faculty and staff.  If you need emergency access to the building, you may email Student Affairs to discuss this. 

Stay in touch! We know you’re hearing a lot about social distancing and other mitigation strategies to reduce exposure, slow the spread, and minimize the transmission of COVID-19—and yes, please follow the tips not to hold in-person meetings, to maintain distance between yourself and those who are coughing or sneezing, and to avoid shaking hands or close physical contact with anyone displaying symptoms. Follow the advice to wash your hands and avoid touching your face.

All that said, we hope that, even remotely, we can continue to maintain the sense of community that makes Duke Law special. Continue to stay in contact via your GroupMe and WhatsApp groups, set up regular (remote!) study sessions, check in on each other by phone, text, and e-mail, and please contact Student Affairs, faculty, or other administrators if you learn of a friend or classmate who needs our help. This is an uncertain time, and we can do a lot to ease each other’s stress and anxiety simply by continuing to be present for each other, even in new or different ways.

At this point, we can share these near-term reassurances:

1. Law School student employees, such as research assistants, with the capability to work off-site, will continue to be paid as usual. If you are a student with a position including work that you’re worried cannot be completed off-site, please contact Dean Gustafson. The University has also issued guidance for all staff. 
2. If you are in the Triangle and concerned about food insecurity, please consider local resources such as GPSC’s Community Pantry in Durham, and the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, with locations in Durham and Raleigh.   
3. GPSC also has set up an Emergency Travel Fund for graduate and professional students.
4. The University has provided an FAQ for students that includes specific ideas for those facing financial strain (scroll to the bottom, to the section on “Financial Issues”) due to these extraordinary circumstances.

If you have an urgent concern, please contact Dean Hoye so that we can try to offer immediate support. Otherwise, we will continue to update you as our plans come together—and please know that our top priority is supporting all students as much as we are able.

We are committed to offering you the opportunity to earn all the credits you registered for this semester and ensuring you remain on track to graduate as scheduled. While you are still responsible for completing work required to earn credit for the course, the switch to remote learning will not impact your ability to graduate.

On March 18, President Price announced that the University was postponing commencement, including departmental ceremonies. Unfortunately, that means law school commencement is also postponed. We will continue to monitor CDC and University guidance concerning public gatherings, and revisit the question of commencement when we know more. We will provide updates as soon as we are able. Note that you will still receive your diplomas on time.

I’ve registered for graduation events, how do I cancel and request a refund?

Your attendance is automatically cancelled and all payments for graduation events will be automatically refunded. Duke Conference Services has already begun the process, however, refunds may take up to 2 weeks to appear on statements.