Law Students Protest Dean's Town Meeting

Members of the Coalition for Civil Rights (CCR) yesterday protested the lack of diversity on the Law School faculty during a town meeting held by Dean Robert C. Clark.

Clark called the meeting, held in Austin Hall, to discuss curricular reform, but some student participants said changes in the curriculum would be ineffective without faculty reform.

"I actually think it's impossible to think about reforming the curriculum without reforming the faculty," said second-year law student Julie A. Su during the meeting.

About 100 law students and administrators participated in the discussion and asked questions of several panelists, who were members of the Law School's Curricular Assessment Committee.

Su and other protestors interrupted the proceedings by reading aloud the names of about 200 women of color teaching at law schools nationwide.

Panel members responded angrily to the protestors, calling their tactics unproductive.

"Do you really think you're making a contribution?" shouted Fessenden Professor of Law Bernard Wolfman as CCR members continued reading from their list of names.

Protestors Rebuffed

Students on the panel also strongly rebuffed the protestors. Second-year student Rima Hartzenbusch said, "This is not on the agenda...this is not the Faculty Appointments Committee."

Professor of Law Todd D. Rakoff, who chairs the Curricular Assessment Committee, identified problems in the school's academic program, such as the need for better information about courses, practical training for first-year students, and reevaluation of classroom teaching methods. Faculty members on the committee also made presentations on the issues identified by Rakoff.

In an interview after the event, Clark said he thought the meeting had been extremely successful and said the protest was ineffective.

"I don't it was effective in advancing their cause, which is already accepted by the Appointments Committee," Clark said. "But fair enough, I think [the protest] was okay," he added.