News & Notes: Harvard law students request postponement of exams, following Columbia action

Students at Harvard Law School have written a letter requesting that final exams be postponed for those who protested the grand jury decisions in Ferguson and New York City, the Boston Globe reported.

Grand juries had decided to acquit Daniel Pantaleo and Darren Wilson, both Caucasian police officers, of blame in the deaths of African-Americans Eric Garner and Michael Brown, respectively. Garner died after being placed in a chokehold and Brown died after he was shot six times in a suburb of St. Louis.

The coalition wrote in their letter that they cannot walk away from their pain or ignore a call to act against an event that threatens their families and their sense of justice.

“Unless you act now, you will allow the systematic underperformance of a great many students of color and allies on this campus on their exams,” the statement reads.

Harvard Law School spokesperson Robb London said that the school has in a place an exam deferral policy that allows any request for deferral to be considered individually. The coalition noted that the law school did delay exams in 1970 for students who participated in protests against the Vietnam War.

The New York Times reported on Dec. 8 that Columbia Law School is allowing students to defer their exams. A similar movement is going on at Georgetown University Law School.