Would-Be Law Student Loses Case, Will Appeal

A federal court has dismissed the case of a rejected Law School applicant who claimed that the Law School denied him his constitutional rights when it did not admit him last year.

Kenneth B. Krohn, who filed the complaint, said yesterday he has filed an appeal with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

The 30-year-old Harvard Ph.D. who received a perfect 800 score on the LSAT, said he does not believe the district court judge who dismissed the claim adequately considered Krohn's argument that Harvard is subject to laws ensuring fair hearings on all its decisions and an appeals process.

Unless he can prove Harvard is a public institution or that its actions constitute action by the state, Krohn cannot bring the question of whether he was unfairly rejected into the courts.

The 14th amendment of the Constitution, under which most discrimination cases are won, covers only states' action.

In the brief that Krohn prepared himself, he argued that Harvard was founded as a state school, and that its status as a public institution has never been officially changed.

District Court Judge Frank H. Freedman said in his decision, "I do not believe [Harvard's] historical connection with the Commonwealth alone enables this Court to take the position that the University is public in character."

Although Freedman did not contest Krohn's assertion that the state's official control over the University has never been severed, he said the Commonwealth does not involve itself in the school's daily functioning, and the school is thus not required to provide due process.

Krohn also argued that because there are no public law schools in Massachusetts--even though the state requires a law degree of applicants to the bar--the state has in effect delegated the task of licensing lawyers to private law schools.

However, Freedman said this argument does not show that Harvard is linked to the state, because he said, "The country now abounds with accredited law schools which adequately qualify any applicant for admission to the bar in Massachusetts."

Krohn said he did not really expect his case to be taken seriously on the district court level. "Pro se litigants [people who argue their own cases] tend to be treated as cranks," he said.

Daniel Steiner '54, general counsel to the University, said yesterday the