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Office of Academic Administration and Student Affairs

Asst. Dean Stephen Sowle

Week of January 16, 2017
Student Portal Page
Student Health Insurance FAQ

Law School Survival Guide
U-Pass FAQ

Click here for Dean Sowle's Record Archives


Welcome Back! Congratulations to all first-year students on completing your first semester of law school, and to upper-level students for making it one semester closer to graduation. I hope everyone had a restful holiday break.

Building Closed on Monday, January 16. Classes will not be held on Monday, January 16, in commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Spring semester classes will start on Tuesday, January 17). Because Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is an official university holiday, this also means that the Law School building will be closed on Monday, January 17. Although the building will be open on Sunday, January 15 (10:00am - 11:00pm), the Library will be closed on Sunday.

Accessing Your Fall 2016 Grades. Fall grades are due no later than five weeks from the date of the exam or, if there is no final exam, five weeks from the last day of the exam period. Grades are released as they are received. You can access your grades by logging into Web for Students, then clicking on the Fall 2016 link under the Grades and Rank heading.

Spring 2017 Semester Information. The Spring 2017 Quick Guide page has most of the information you will need in advance of the start of the Spring semester -- click here, or go to the main Current Students Portal page and click on the Spring 2017 Quick Guide link under "Academics & Grades." Alternatively, click on the individual links below to go directly to the indicated documents.

Initial Reading Assignments
An updated list of initial reading assignments has been posted; assignments were added for Property (Prof. Perritt) and Regulation of New Technologies (Prof. Perritt), and a revised assignment for Copyright Law (Prof. Lee) was posted. Please note: Not all professors submit initial assignments, so do not be concerned if there is no listing for one or more of your Spring courses. Even if a course is not listed, materials for the course should be available in the Bookstore (if the professor is assigning texts sold through the Bookstore).

Revised Spring Schedule (with Classroom Assignments and Exam Information)
Classroom assignments are also posted in the front lobby. This version of the schedule has exam information for Spring classes. You may have an exam rescheduled if you have an "exam conflict" (as defined below). A Final Exam Reschedule Form will be posted later this semester through Web for Students.

A student is deemed to have an "exam conflict" if he or she has two exams at the same time, or has two or more exams within 24 hours (e.g., exams at 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., or at 6:00 p.m. and 1:15 the following afternoon). A conflict does not exist if two exams are scheduled exactly 24 hours apart (e.g., exams at 8:30 a.m. one morning and 8:30 a.m. the next morning).

Applications for Graduation
J.D. students who plan on graduating at the end of the Spring semester must submit an online Application for Graduation form no later than Tuesday, January 31. To complete the form, go to Web for Students at https://wfs.kentlaw.iit.edu and click on "Application for Graduation" under "Online Forms" in the lefthand menu. Please complete every field in the form, and click Submit when done. You will receive a confirmation e-mail once a graduation audit has been performed. Please note that any changes you make to your schedule after the audit may affect your graduation requirements. You should check with the Registrar's Office prior to making any changes. Also note that, although the Registrar's Office does conduct graduation audits on all applications, it is your responsibility to make certain all requirements for graduation are met. If you have any questions, please stop by the Registrar's office.

Trial Advocacy 1 Section Assignments
If your section meets at the Daley Center, please be sure to bring your Kent ID card with you, as you may be required to show it before being allowed to enter.

Trial Advocacy 2 Section Assignments
If your section meets at the Daley Center, please be sure to bring your Kent ID card with you, as you may be required to show it before being allowed to enter.

Adding and Dropping Classes
You may add an open course without special permission until the end of the first week of Spring classes; during the second week, however, you may add an open course only with permission of the instructor. You may not add a course after Tuesday, January 31, 11:00pm.

You may withdraw from any course except a required course, a clinical course, Law Review, Moot Court, or Intensive Trial Advocacy at any time prior to the date of the final exam or final paper (see §3.10(c) of the Student Handbook). There is no tuition penalty if you drop a course during the first two weeks of classes. You will not receive a tuition refund, however, if you drop a course after Tuesday, January 31, 11:00pm.

Pass/Fail Elections
Pass/fail elections for the Spring semester must be made online no later than Monday, February 13, 5:00pm. Please review section 2.4 "Pass/Fail Election" in the Student Handbook if you have any questions regarding your pass/fail elections. In order to make your election, you should:

  1. Log into Web for Students.

  2. Select the "Take Class Pass/Fail" option under the "Online Forms" heading

  3. Select the course you would like to take on a pass/fail basis

  4. Submit your selection

The Registrar's Office will review your request and inform you if there is any problem with your request.

Taking Classes at DePaul and Loyola. Chicago-Kent has an arrangement with Loyola (Chicago) School of Law and DePaul University College of Law that permits students from each school to register for selected courses at the other schools. Students will pay tuition to their home school, and grades will transfer (not just the credits) and be counted in your GPA. Click here for a list of Loyola classes open to upper-level Chicago-Kent students for the Fall 2015 term; click here for a list of DePaul classes. If you are interested in taking one of these classes, please contact me. Please note: These courses may count toward a Chicago-Kent certificate program only with permission of Dean Sowle and the director of the relevant certificate program.

Legal Writing 4 Equivalency Class
Students this semester who take Criminal Litigation 1 or are doing a Judicial Externship may satisfy the Legal Writing 4 requirement either by taking a regular Legal Writing 4 class, or by taking the Legal Writing 4 Equivalency Class this semester. Note: You must register for the Legal Writing 4 Equivalency Class this semester (listed on page 2 of the Schedule of Classes), in addition to participating in the qualifying course or activity, in order to place out of taking a regular Legal Writing 4 class -- it is not sufficient just to participate in the qualifying course or activity. The Equivalency Class must be taken in the same semester as the course or activity that qualifies you to take the Equivalency Class -- you may not defer the Equivalency Class to a later semester.

2016-2017 Academic Calendar

Full-Time Students Taking Fewer Than 12 Credits 
Students graduating at the end of the Spring 2017 semester who need fewer than the minimum number of hours to graduate may take fewer credits without special permission. If you take fewer than 12 credits hours, please contact the Registrar, Jerry Seaton, so he can make sure you are still coded as full-time in the registration system.


Tuition Discount for Graduating Students Taking More than 87 Credits 
If you will be graduating at the end of the Spring 2017 semester, and you will be taking more than the 87 credits required to graduate, you may receive a 50% discount on each credit you take over the required 87 credits. If this affects you, please contact me by email no later than Tuesday, January 31, and I will arrange for the credit to be applied to your account. Please note: Financial aid is not available for any courses you take that are not necessary for you to reach the required 87 credits. If you have any questions about your financial aid, please contact the Office of Financial Aid directly.

U-Passes for Spring 2017
All full-time J.D. students (determined by your official division status, not by the number of credit hours you take in a particular semester) are enrolled in the U-Pass program, as well as LL.M. students who are registered for 12 or more credits for the Spring. Your current Ventra U-Pass card will be activated to work from Tuesday, January 17 (the first day of the semester) through Friday, May 12 (the last day of exams).

Dean's Certificate for February Bar Exam. The law school will automatically send a “Certificate of Dean of Law School Proof of Legal Education” to the Illinois bar examiners for every student who filed an Application for Graduation showing Fall 2016 as their final semester. If you are a Fall graduate and plan on taking the bar in another state, please submit the appropriate dean's certification form to the Registrar's office as soon as possible. Important note: We will not certify any student to the bar examiners if the student has an outstanding balance owed to the school.

Student Health Insurance. All students registered for at least one credit hour in the Fall (including intersession classes), including both full-time and part-time students, were automatically billed for student health insurance for the entire year, unless they submitted and were approved for a waiver.

If you were covered in the Fall semester and do not want coverage in the Spring semester, you may request cancellation of the student insurance by January 26, 2017, and your student account will be refunded for the Spring portion. You will not receive a refund if the waiver is not received by January 26 and you will continue to be covered by the insurance until August 11, 2017. If you intend to waive the student insurance coverage, please read the waiver instructions in the insurance brochure carefully. For more information about the plan, including waivers, go to http://www.iit.edu/shwc/insurance.

If you waived coverage in a prior semester and now wish to enroll in the student health insurance plan, or you are not currently covered for any other reason and wish to enroll, you must apply for the insurance. For more information on applying for insurance, go to http://www.iit.edu/shwc/insurance. Students must enroll by January 26, 2017.

If you have previously waived the insurance, your waiver only applies to the current academic year and you must waive the insurance at the beginning of every academic year. If you are a returning student who has waived the IIT Student Health Insurance in the past, you must fill out the waiver again this year and at the beginning of every academic year. 

Health insurance cards and documents are mailed upon request only. You may contact Aetna Student Health directly at 800.841.3140. You may also create your profile to access these documents through your smart device.

Academic Calendar for 2017-2018. The academic calendar for next academic year, as adopted by the faculty, is available here.

Reminder About IIT Policy on Firearms and Weapons on Campus. (From the IIT General Counsel's Office:) In general, carrying or bringing any type of firearm or other weapon in, on or to the campus or property of IIT is expressly prohibited.  This prohibition applies even if you have all of the requisite permits to carry the firearm or weapon, including a concealed carry permit.  The policy expressly defines “firearm,” “weapon,” “campus” and “property of IIT.” The policy does contain a very limited number of narrowly tailored exceptions, such as allowing ROTC to utilize firearms for training and permitting personnel of the Department of Public Safety and on duty police officers to carry firearms.

The link to the full, updated policy is provided below and everyone should familiarize themselves with it, as the policy will be strictly enforced: Concealed Carry and Prohibition Regarding Firearms and Weapons On Campus Policy.

Employment Limitation. Subject to the limitation for full-time first-year students mentioned below, students may work more than 20 hours a week if they take 13 or fewer credits in a regular semester (Fall or Spring). Students are prohibited from working more than 20 hours a week if they take 14 or more credits.

Full-time first-year students are prohibted from working more than 20 hours a week even if they take 13 or fewer credits (e.g., full-time summer-start students, who take only 13 credits in the Fall, are still limited to working no more than 20 hours a week).

Academic Counseling. I am available for counseling about course selection, certificate programs, bar preparation, academic rules and regulations, and other academic matters. If you are interested in a particular area of law, I can also arrange for you to meet with a faculty member who specializes in that area. You may contact me by email (ssowle@kentlaw.iit.edu), by phone at (312) 906-5282, or by stopping by my office (320C).

Joke of the Week. How does the man in the moon cut his hair? Eclipse it!

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