Following up on my previous post, Blind Law Student Sues Wayne State For Failure To Accommodate Her Disability:  Law360, Law School's Remote Learning Stance Baffles Mich. Judge:

A Michigan federal judge said Thursday it "makes no sense" that Wayne State University Law School couldn't allow a student with a disability to attend classes virtually, pressing an attorney for the university as to why the school couldn't do so, considering it had gone fully remote during the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. District Judge Robert White said it "makes no sense to me in the post-Covid climate" that remote learning would be a fundamental alteration to the education the school provides, when students were fully or predominately remote for an extended period during the pandemic. The judge said he was having a hard time understanding how Hind Omar's request to do distance learning would be an unreasonable accommodation.

The university had claimed Omar's request to attend classes virtually would impose a fundamental alteration on the law school's program, which included the interactive, participation-based method of Socratic teaching. The Americans with Disabilities Act does not require institutions to provide accommodations that would impose a fundamental alteration to the program.

"If Wayne State conducted Socratic methods over Zoom or … whatever hosting software … for years, it's hard to understand there's this magical substantive difference that takes place between one student learning virtually," the judge said.

Omar, who is blind and has chronic mental illness, according to her complaint, alleged the university violated the ADA by refusing to allow her to attend class remotely or provide other accommodations due to her disabilities. Wayne State and Omar have accused each other of refusing to participate in an interactive process regarding the accommodations requests.

Judge White, who was sworn into the Eastern District of Michigan in April 2024, repeatedly asked attorneys for the university at a hearing for cross-motions for summary judgment why virtual learning couldn't be offered.

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