Law School Group To Discuss Hearing

The Harvard Law School Coalition for Civil Rights (CCR) will hold an open forum tonight to discuss its upcoming hearing before the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) of Massachusetts.

The coalition, which represents six minority student organizations and the Women's Law Association, issued a letter last week detailing its arguments and the history of the case.

On March 3, the CCR will present its reasoning as to why Law School students should be allowed to sue their school for discrimination in the hiring of faculty members.

If the court finds in favor of the students, the CCR will gain access to private Law School personnel records and will file suit against the University, said Laura E. Hankins, a third-year law school student and CCR member who will argue the case.

"The purpose of the letter is to inform the community of what we are doing and the importance of the case," Hankins said.

The document, submitted to The Crimson as a letter to the editor, says there are no women of color, no Latinos, no Asian-Americans, no Native Americans, and no openly lesbian, gay, or bisexual persons currently on the Law School faculty--nor have there ever been any tenured faculty members from these groups.

Five white women and six Black men currently teach at the Law School, according to the letter.

The CCR document also charges that the secrecy involved in the hiring process facilitates discriminatory practices.

"What makes it old boy is the way they decide 'qualified' candidates," said John C. Bonifaz, a third year law student and member of CCR. "They call all around to friends at other law schools."

"Harvard's policies are subjective, the criteria are subjective. They do not look at the pool nationwide," he added.

If the Supreme Judicial Court decides that the students do have a right to sue, the case will set a precedent, according to CCR members.

"It is the first time law students are challenging their school on the basis of discrimination in the hiring of professors," Bonifaz said. "It is the Brown v. Board of Education of the 1990s."

CCR members say they believe the SJC's willingness to hear the case is a victory in itself.

"The SJC only grants such motions in cases presenting 'novel questions of law' or 'issues in the public interest," says the letter, which characterizes the SJC's taking of the case as "an extremely unusual move."

The CCR forum will be held at Pound Hall at 7:30 p.m.