Law School Creates Student Advisory Group

A newly-created advisory committee of law students will begin to meet regularly with the School's faculty appointments committee this week.

At the urging of the Law School student government, the administration created the new advisory body in response to last semester's bitter controversy over faculty diversity.

The group, which will consist of seven students chosen by the executive board of the Law School Council, will meet on a monthly basis with the appointments committee in order to keep abreast of hiring developments and represent student views.

Its creation is an attempt on the part of the council to "be involved in faculty diversity in a non-political way," said second-year law student Raul Perez, administrative vice president of the council.

Council president Marie-Louise Ramsdale, a third-year student, said that the group is "an outgrowth of informal meetings we've had for the past two years" with Law School Dean Robert C. Clark. She said that its members will act as emissaries from the student body and will report regularly to the full council.

Student activists criticized the appointments committee last semester for what they said was a lack of attention to their demands for a diverse faculty.

The Law School was rocked by students protests, sit-ins and vigils throughout the spring. Students demanded that more women and people of color be appointed to the faculty, which currently posts six Black and five women professors out of 66 tenured or tenure track faculty.

The appointments committee itself came under fire after it recommended tenure for four white males.

The creation of the student advisory group is part of a larger strategy by the council's executive board both to ease campustensions and address the issue of facultydiversity, Perez said.

Other council actions include the coordinationof a diversity forum during first-year law studentregistration, and the inclusion of two students asadvisors on the committee to pick a successor forDean of Students Sarah Wald, who will step downnext month.

But Council Executive Vice-President Enu A.Mainigi voiced doubts that the committee members'agenda will actually reflect the concerns of moststudents. Mainigi, a member of the five-personcouncil executive board that reviewed theapplications, observed that "the studentrepresentation is leaning all to the left."

But Mainigi, a second-year student, added thatin light of last semester's disturbances thecommittee will play an important role on campus.

"I hope it will get some student concernsvoiced to the administration in yet another way,"Mainigi said, although she conceded that "I canimagine a scenario where they don't have muchinfluence at all."

Second-year student Greg P. Taxin also voicedapproval for the new group. "I definitely thinkit's exciting and can be quite useful," Taxinsaid. "If nothing else it will civilize thedebate."

But, like Mainigi, he noted the possibilitythat the committee will bow to a specific andunrepresentative ideological agenda.

"The questions I would have is who'scontrolling the committee and whose voice it willrepresent," Taxin said.

All law students were invited to apply formembership via notes in their mailboxes. The finalmembership, chosen last night by the executivecouncil, will be approved by the full body of thecouncil in about two weeks. Those selected lastnight will serve as acting members until thattime

Other council actions include the coordinationof a diversity forum during first-year law studentregistration, and the inclusion of two students asadvisors on the committee to pick a successor forDean of Students Sarah Wald, who will step downnext month.

But Council Executive Vice-President Enu A.Mainigi voiced doubts that the committee members'agenda will actually reflect the concerns of moststudents. Mainigi, a member of the five-personcouncil executive board that reviewed theapplications, observed that "the studentrepresentation is leaning all to the left."

But Mainigi, a second-year student, added thatin light of last semester's disturbances thecommittee will play an important role on campus.

"I hope it will get some student concernsvoiced to the administration in yet another way,"Mainigi said, although she conceded that "I canimagine a scenario where they don't have muchinfluence at all."

Second-year student Greg P. Taxin also voicedapproval for the new group. "I definitely thinkit's exciting and can be quite useful," Taxinsaid. "If nothing else it will civilize thedebate."

But, like Mainigi, he noted the possibilitythat the committee will bow to a specific andunrepresentative ideological agenda.

"The questions I would have is who'scontrolling the committee and whose voice it willrepresent," Taxin said.

All law students were invited to apply formembership via notes in their mailboxes. The finalmembership, chosen last night by the executivecouncil, will be approved by the full body of thecouncil in about two weeks. Those selected lastnight will serve as acting members until thattime