UPDATED: Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at 3:05 p.m.

Due to the potential for severe weather from Hurricane Idalia, the Charleston School of Law (including the library) will be closed all day on Wednesday through Thursday at 1 pm. Today’s classes and events are unaffected.

Charleston is under a Tropical Storm Warning. This means that we are likely to receive tropical storm-strength winds in the next 36 hours. We are also under a Storm Surge Watch and Flood Watch. For us, the main impacts from this storm will be rain, wind, and flooding. 

Although the worst effects of the storm will begin Wednesday afternoon, the City has opened the Visitor Center’s Parking Garage adjacent to our building for all residents to use as parking beginning tomorrow at 10 am and concluding Thursday at 11 am. This likely means that the garage will be unavailable to regular cardholders from Wednesday through midday on Thursday, which will make it difficult to hold in-person classes. In addition, flooding may make it challenging to get home mid-day in time for afternoon classes by Zoom.

• Classes moved to Zoom. All classes on Wednesday as well as those on Thursday morning through and including the 12-1 pm block will, by default, be held by Zoom. Regular, in-person classes will resume at 1:30 pm on Thursday. Students should use their regular classroom’s Zoom link. For example, if your favorite class is usually in 104, you’ll use the Zoom link for that room. Please be sure that your full name is spelled out as your username so that you receive attendance credit. Academic Affairs will process attendance manually using Zoom logs rather than using CourseKey.  Faculty will receive a separate email from IT Director Andrew Gregware about how they should access Zoom. Faculty who would prefer to make up classes in person rather than through Zoom should contact Dean Lawton to make arrangements.
• Events and meetings. All in-person events on Wednesday and through 1 pm on Thursday are canceled. Organizers have the discretion to hold them by Zoom instead.
• Employees. All full-time employees with laptops should work remotely during the closure period, if feasible. It is not necessary to unplug equipment in offices. It is also not necessary to cover equipment or furniture in plastic.
• Student workers. Student workers, including the Library’s student workers, should not report to work during the closure period. Your supervisor will be in touch if remote work is possible.
• Flexibility. While our plan is to be fully operational by Thursday afternoon, outside circumstances—such as power outages, Internet outages, and flooding—may make this impossible. If changes need to be made to the plan described above, we will let you know via email and OmniAlert.

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The Law School’s Emergency Management Team will continue to monitor the weather forecast and instructions from local, state, and federal government officials. We will keep the community informed of any developments