Law School Grads Boycott Fund Drive

Law School alumni from the 1976 and 1977 classes plan to continue their boycott of the school's fundraising efforts through this coming year, alumni and Law School officials said yesterday.

Alumni from the two classes are boycotting the annual fund drive which began on October 1 in protest of "the lack of student input at the Law School," Jeffrey Reiman, marshall of the Law School class of '76, said.

"We simply feel a law student should have a meaningful voice in any decision at the Law School--including tenure, academic policy, and the third-year paper," Reiman said.

Both administrators and dissident alumni interviewed yesterday said the boycott has not financially damaged the Law School.

Both classes first decided to boycott Law School fundraising efforts just before their graduation ceremonies. The Class of '78, however, did not join them.

John H. Muller Jr., associate director of the Harvard Law School Fund, said yesterday that only 14 per cent of the Class of '76 and 16 per cent of the Class of '77 have neglected to contribute to the fund. "This is certainly not a class-wide boycott," he said, adding many alumni cannot contribute because of financial hardship.

Muller said the faculty has been considering many of the alumni's suggestions for improving student conditions at the Law School, citing the student-faculty committee to examine pass-fail grading.

However, Reiman called the pass-fail student-faculty committee "farcical" because, he said, it voted down the pass-fail option this year at a meeting where two of the three student members could not--by committee regulations--be present.

"Harvard Law School is just a terrible place to be for three years because students have no input in decision-making," Reiman said.

Muller said the full impact of the boycott will not be visible for "at least three years."