University of Virginia Library

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT.

December 15, 1918.

Under stress of war conditions, and the demands of the Students'
Army Training Corps, in operation at the University of Virginia, the work
of the Law School has been in a state of suspension during the session of
1918-1919. The cessation of hostilities, and the consequent demobilization
of the S. A. T. C., now well under way, make it possible to resume the interrupted
operations of the Law School with the beginning of the New
Year.

Opening of the Law School.—Announcement is therefore made that
the Law School will resume its regular pre-war curriculum (with immaterial
exceptions) with the beginning of the second term on January 3, 1919.

Schedule.—The work of each year will be taken up as at the opening
of a new session—that is, with the courses regularly scheduled for the
first term. Thus, by the close of the current session, the courses of the first
and second terms will have been completed—leaving the courses of the
third term unprovided for, and impossible of completion during the present
regular session.

Summer Term.—In order to meet this condition, and to enable students
to complete a full year's work before the opening of the new session
in September next, it is planned to offer a summer term covering the regular
third term work, with full credit for its completion. In other words,
it is proposed to extend the current session substantially through the summer,
with such brief vacation periods, before and after the summer term,
as may be arranged later. Inasmuch, however, as the consummation of
this plan for a summer term must largely depend on the appeal which such
plan may make to the students hereafter to be registered, no positive announcement
that this summer work will be offered can now be made. It
is believed that a definite announcement may be possible early in the New
Year.

No Relaxation of Standards.—The suggestion has come from many
quarters that under existing circumstances pre-war standards and requirements
should be relaxed, and the curriculum be curtailed or condensed, so
as to permit graduation without accounting for the term lost during the
period of suspension. The suggestion has received the sympathetic and
deliberate consideration which it manifestly deserves. But, in coöperation
with the other leading law schools of the country, and in pursuance of the
policy of the Association of American Law Schools, as expressed by its
executive committee, of which association this Law School is a member—
as well as in accordance with the deliberate judgment of the Faculty of

the Law School—the suggestion has been rejected. It follows that (with
the slight exceptions noted in the following section) no credit, or other
departure from established standards and regulations, can be allowed for
military or other public service, or as a concession to existing economic
conditions.

Entrance Requirements.—Entrance requirements remain unaltered, except
as follows: (1) The regulation, announced in former bulletins, requiring
one year of college work as an entrance qualification, effective with
the beginning of the session of 1919-20, will be suspended for that session,
to become operative with the following session of 1920-21. (2) In the case
of applicants who have served in the military or naval forces, and who desire
to enter as Special Students (not candidates for the degree), the age
qualification will be reduced, for the current session only, from 23 years to
21 years. Such applicants must satisfy other requirements for the admission
of Special Students as shown in the catalogue.

When Students May Enter.—It is of course highly desirable that students
of any year, and particularly those entering the work of the first
year, should enter at the beginning of the year's work which they propose
to pursue. Where this is impossible—as is likely to be the case with many
students now in the military or naval service—the terms are so arranged
that students may register at the beginning of any term. And, as practically
all courses are complete with the term to which they are assigned,
new courses begin with each succeeding term. Thus the student entering
late may begin his work with the inception of the courses taken. In such
case his chief handicap (often a serious one) will be lack of familiarity with
preceding courses, on some of which his own work may be based. Such
late entrance, therefore, is not advised, but only permitted.