Majority of Law Students Vote In Favor of Affirmative Action

An overwhelming majority of Law School students support affirmative action to increate the number of minorities and women on the faculty, a poll administered by Law School students last week shows.

In a referendum sponsored last week by the Law School student government, 79 per cent of students polled voted that the Law School must broaden its recruiting methods to amend the low representation of minorities and women on the faculty Over eight hundred students, about one-half of the entire student body, responded to the poll--the vote was 662-180.

The referendum is the most exhaustive account of student opinion on the Law School's hiring policies since the beginning of a six-month long controversy over a winter terms civil rights course taught in part by a white professor. Minority leaders called a boycott of the course to highlight the low representation of minorities and women on the school's faculty

The Law School's 60 member faculty includes two Blacks and five women Only one Black and one woman have tenure

"The poll results are very meaning full. It's telling the faculty to abandon the tried and true criteria and to become more bold in its hiring practices." William Hunter, a Law School Student Council member, said last week.

The Council has sent a copy of there referendum to Law School Dean James Vorenberg '48, asking him to present it to the faculty to be adopted as a resolution. The statement approved by the students pledged a commitment to intensified minority recruitment, "recognizing that the goal of increased, representation of women and minorities should be a primary consideration in all future appointment and tenure decisions."

Council members, originally planned to present the referendum results at last Wednesday's faculty meeting but Dean Vorenberg preferred to postpone it until he could discuss the referendum results with faculty members individually, Brain Curran, council president, said yesterday

Voremberg was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Council vice president Michael Michael son said yesterday that he is confident the referendum will receive faculty attention He added. "It would be unusual for the faculty to adopt it as a resolution, but not inappropriate it's this cave which clearly shows an overwhelming majority of student opinion."

Lance M. Leibman, associate dean of the Law School, said last week he was not surprised by the poll results, but refused further comment