Hurricane Dorian's eye seen from the International Space Station (Photo: Nick Hague/NASA) Hurricane Dorian's eye seen from the International Space Station (Photo: Nick Hague/NASA)
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Students at the majority of South Florida's law schools returned to campus Wednesday after an extended Labor Day weekend due to Hurricane Dorian, which avoided a direct collision with the Sunshine State but still prompted university officials to cancel classes.

But it wasn't business as usual in the central and Northeast corner of the state, where law schools remained closed because of the powerful storm. Orlando's two law campuses—Florida A&M University College of Law and Barry University Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law—each remained closed Wednesday. Florida A&M will reopen Thursday, while officials at Barry were scheduled to announce reopening plans Wednesday afternoon. The Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville was also closed Tuesday and Wednesday, with plans to reopen Thursday. That campus already has Nov. 26 designed as a potential storm make-up day on its fall semester calendar.

Forecasters are predicting that Dorian will arrive on the coast of South Carolina and North Carolina on Thursday and Friday after chugging up the coast of Georgia. That state's five law schools are located inland and have not announced closure plans. The lone exception is the Savannah Law School—a satellite campus of Atlanta's John Marshall Law School that is in the process of closing. That campus is located in a mandatory evacuation zone and was closed Tuesday and Wednesday. It was unclear Wednesday morning when classes would resume.

Officials at the Charleston School of Law, which is located mere blocks from that city's waterfront, appeared to be taking no chances. They announced Sunday that the campus would be closed all week, with classes resuming Sept. 9. A spokesman for the school said Wednesday that administrators will determine how to make up those lost classes days once they return to campus. South Carolina's only other law school, the University of South Carolina School of Law, is not on the coast and remains open.

None of North Carolina's six law schools are located near the coast and remained open as usual this week.

But the four law school in South Florida shuttered Tuesday amid Dorian's threat. The University of Miami School of Law, Florida International University College of Law and Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center each resumed classes Wednesday. St. Thomas University School of Law reopened its campus Wednesday but will not start holding classes until Thursday.