Message from Dean Richardson on COVID-19
Dear UCI Law Community,
The past few weeks have been unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. I want to take a moment to express my gratitude and thanks for the remarkable efforts you have made during this challenging time. If anything, our collective response to this global pandemic leaves me even more confident in the strength of our community and our ability to overcome any obstacle.
Our creative spirit remains strong. In a matter of days, our faculty transitioned to remote teaching and our students to remote learning. Our staff and administrators now operate the law school from kitchens and living rooms. Our entire community is self-isolating. Yet, despite our physical separation, I feel even more connected to the UCI Law community than ever before.
The abrupt and unwelcome transition to this new normal hasn’t been easy. We’ve all had to make some difficult decisions, choices and sacrifices. Disappointment, sadness, fear, and frustration are inevitable.
Even in the face of these challenges, our care and concern for each other and for our broader community still perseveres. Remarkable acts of kindness demonstrate the strength of our culture and our public service orientation. These include our students coming together to deliver groceries to those in need, helping with humanitarian parole requests to remove individuals from immigration detention where they are more susceptible to COVID 19, and supporting legal services by delivering documents to seniors and the medically compromised who are unable to go out to get their documents signed or to pick up important legal papers.
As we continue through these uncertain times, let’s continue to show kindness, empathy and compassion to each other and to ourselves. UCI Law started as a different kind of law school, one where collegiality and care for one another defined our community. This is what must guide us now.
Let’s remember that we will always face uncertainty, change, obstacles and failure in our lives. It’s how we respond to these challenges that matters the most to our happiness and success both personally and professionally. Our response matters to the continued strength of our UCI Law community.
Finally, let’s continue to rely on the courage, grit and perseverance that define who we are at UCI Law. Remembering who we are as a community will help us emerge stronger and more resilient than we were before. For this too shall pass. It always does.
Our community matters more now than ever before. We are in this together. I am grateful for you all, and wish you continued good health.
All my best,
L. Song Richardson
Dean | Chancellor’s Professor of Law