Gonzaga Law School welcomes largest class since 2011

Gonzaga has enrolled 155 aspiring lawyers this fall, the largest number of first-year law school students in nearly a decade.

The class gathered last week for an unconventional, socially distanced orientation in the cavernous McCarthey Athletic Center, sitting with at least several empty seats between students, to hear Gonzaga University School of Law Dean Jacob Rooksby welcome them to campus. Such events are usually held in the law school’s courtroom, which seats 220.

“It was definitely a different feel being in a facility that seats 5,000 people and speaking from the basketball floor,” Rooksby said.

The incoming class also is the most diverse class the school has had. “With the economic uncertainty, I think more people are deciding now is the time to go to law school,” Rooksby said.

All first-year classes are being held in person, though students had the option of attending classes remotely if they had a medical condition, Rooksby said. Several first-year students did choose that option.

Classes for second- and third-year students are a hybrid. Some are in person and some are online, depending on the decision of the instructor, Rooksby said. “We’ve been able to accommodate both,” he said.

The in-person classes have been altered in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. What would have been a 60-student contract law class offered in the school’s courtroom has been changed to two classes of 30 students each so there is plenty of room for social distancing.

Students also are required to wear masks in the classroom. Rooksby said the school is doing its best to stress the importance of wearing masks on and off campus. He noted that other colleges have had issues with their students disregarding social distancing and masking rules and having large off-campus gatherings.

“We can ensure compliance in the building, but that ends in the parking lot,” he said. “Off-campus is harder for us to enforce.”

Whether the law school can continue to offer in-person classes depends on the behavior of students, Rooksby said.

The law school will conduct random testing of students for the coronavirus throughout the semester as a way to monitor any possible spread of the disease, he said.

“We’re going to be testing about 5% of our students every week,” he said.

Students were asked during the summer whether they were interested in coming back to campus.

“We conducted a survey of our students, incoming and returning,” Rooksby said. “Over three-fourths indicated a preference to coming back in person.”

Students seem happy to be back on campus, he said. “The students I’ve talked to in the last week are excited to be here,” he said.

Gonzaga University’s plan for all classes, including the law school, is to have them be fully online after Thanksgiving.

“We are encouraging students who go home (for the holiday) to stay home,” he said.

The law school buildings will be open to students by key card access only after Thanksgiving for those who want to come on campus to study, Rooksby said.

Some colleges and law schools announced that they would no longer require standardized tests such as the SAT or LSAT for admission.

Gonzaga chose to continue requiring an LSAT test for admission, but Rooksby said the situation is being evaluated to see if that will continue .

“There have been so many changes over the last few months,” he said.