Law School Council Blasts Officials For Insensitivity to Student Complaints

The Law School Council, in a report scheduled to coincide with the review of the Law School by an Overseers' visiting committee, yesterday attacked the School's administration for insensitivity in dealing with student complaints over placement procedures and problems of student-faculty communication.

"We're putting the ball in the dean's court--we'll see what he does with it," Meldon Hollis, president of the Law School Council, said yesterday.

In a 22-page "Report to the Student Body," the Council criticized Alfred Daniels, assistant dean of the Law School, for not dealing adequately with complaints of sex discrimination in the placement process.

The placement office at the Law School, which helps students find summer jobs and employment for graduating students, has been a center of controversy since Gail Bowman, a black second-year law student made a complaint against a Chicago law firm in late 1975 for "racially offensive remarks" made in a job interview.

"It's clear to me that the school has a major interest in seeing that placement issues are properly considered and acted on," Albert Sacks, dean of the Law School said yesterday. "If the machinery for complaints is not working well, I think we shall take another look at it."

Sacks added that he hopes to bring the placement committee more into conformity with other "faculty committees" by decreasing the numbers of students represented on the committee from five to three.

No Decrease Asked

The Law School Council report asks that the formerly equal ratio of representation among the various groups on the committee of students, faculty and alumni be maintained.

The report also criticizes the placement office for not allowing first-year law students "full and complete access" to the facilities of the placement office and interviews for jobs.

Daniels said yesterday that allowing these students equal access to the office would be "a disruptive educational impact" on the students because of the already-high academic pressures of the first year.

"Considering it's the most difficult summer ever to get a job, the idea is absurd", Douglas E. Schoen '74, a first-year student, said yesterday.

Rights and Responsibilities

The council report also criticizes the Administrative Board for discouraging students from exercising their full rights and bringing their claims before the committee.

"We are concerned that many important issues are never being identified because students are not made aware that there are mechanisms for dealing with their particular problem," Hollis said yesterday.

"One of the more disturbing aspects of the functioning of the Placement committee, as with other Law School Committees, is that the procedural "rules of the game" are known to no one other than the chairman of the committee," the council report states.

Hollis said yesterday that the council plans to come out with an additional report next week, criticizing Law School minorities policies