Mitchell Hamline extends building restrictions to May 18

On Thursday, April 30, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz extended his “stay-at-home” order to May 18, while allowing more retail businesses to open for curbside operations. He asked all who are currently working from home to continue to do so. In addition to the familiar baseline health recommendations (wash hands, stay home if sick, social distance), he recommended that Minnesotans wear a cloth mask when in public.

Following the governor’s announcement, Mitchell Hamline is extending measures we currently have in place. The building will remain closed to students, the library will remain closed to all patrons, and all employees should work from home unless they need to be on site, until at least May 18.

Some library services are being made available during this time.

The following measures will remain in effect until at least May 18 as well:

• Entry to the campus building will be through the front door only.
• Entry will require a Mitchell Hamline staff or faculty ID in order to be buzzed in.
• Staff and faculty will have 24-hour access, but based on our Security staffing plan, if you plan to work on-site you are encouraged to use the building only between the hours of 7 am and 10 pm M-Th, and 7 am to 7 pm F-Su.
• If you expect to meet Clinic clients on campus, you will need to meet them at the front door to let them in, and then escort them out when you are done.

COVID-19 pay extended to June 30: Mitchell Hamline has been allowing any employee who becomes sick, is taking care of a sick loved one, has school-aged children at home, or is otherwise unable to work (on campus or remotely) their regularly scheduled hours due to a COVID-19 circumstance to claim those hours as COVID-19 pay, rather than having to use PTO. The provision of COVID-19 pay, which was to expire May 1, is being extended at least through June 30.

Student Emergency Fund

The Emergency Fund Committee has begun reviewing priority applications for emergency relief during the pandemic.

Funding for Mitchell Hamline’s COVID-19 Student Emergency Fund has been provided from a variety of sources, including:

$25,000 from Access Lex

$64,461.05 from the Mitchell Hamline Student Bar Association

(In addition, we anticipate receiving funding from the federal CARES Act.)

Students may fill out the emergency fund application to apply.

Blended Learning conference postponed

“Designing the Law Student Experience in Blended Learning,” an academic conference Mitchell Hamline was planning to host this fall, has been rescheduled for September 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The conference will now be held Thursday, Sept. 23, through Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021.

The conference is an opportunity for administrators, faculty, instructional designers, and student services professionals teaching and working in online and blended learning to share ideas and innovations. 

Despite the postponement of the conference, Mitchell Hamline still plans to launch its online Teaching Community this fall. The Teaching Community will allow law faculty across the nation to continue the conversation of online and blended learning in legal education through the sharing of best practices, teaching materials, lessons learned, and personal reflections.

Health status reporting

If you learn that you or someone close to you has been diagnosed with COVID-19, or that you or someone close to you has been exposed to a person who has COVID-19 or to a person from an area experiencing an outbreak of COVID-19, please notify a school official. Faculty and staff should notify Human Resources Director Andrea Bien, andrea.bien@mitchellhamline.edu. Students should notify Dean of Students Lynn Lemoine, lynn.lemoine@mitchellhamline.edu. We respect the privacy of our faculty, staff, and students. The information gathered will be used in the event that we have a confirmed case reported by a member of our community. The sharing of information will be limited to those individuals that have a business need to know and would include the Minnesota State Health Department.

More information

For current health-related information, we encourage you to visit the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Minnesota Department of Health websites. We will also update school information on the website.

State officials are posting updated information on the spread of COVID-19 in Minnesota here.

Contacts for questions

• On-campus students: student.services @mitchellhamline.edu
• Blended-learning students: blendedlearning @mitchellhamline.edu
• Employees should contact their manager or Andrea.Bien @mitchellhamline.edu
• Media: Doug.Belden @mitchellhamline.edu

Additional resources

• Students can find additional information on the Docket, and faculty and staff on the Summit
• Moving your class online for faculty
• Accessibility resources for online learning