In New Book, Former Harvard Prof Blasts His Old Home

A former Harvard Law School professor criticizes the hiring practices and politics of the Law School in a book scheduled to be released next month.

Derrick Bell, now a professor at New York University Law School, says he uses his controversial personal experience at Harvard to illustrate the importance of challenging injustice in Confronting Authority: Reflections of an Ardent Protester.

The most recent issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education describes the book as a "tough criticism" of the Law School.

"[The book covers] a history of feuding over hiring and granting tenure--particularly to women and blacks," the Chronicle says.

Bell portrays Harvard Law as "a place that lacks moral leadership," according to the Chronicle. The professor says his purpose in writing the book was to motivate students in elite schools to confront the inequities around them.

"My goal was to try and communicate to a larger audience their obligation to speak or act out against unjust policies and practices," he says.

Bell himself has a record of protesting conditions he considers unfair.

He took two years of unpaid leave to challenge Harvard's reluctance to hire women and minorities. When Bell announced his intention to extend the protest leave for a third year, Harvard dismissed him.

But Bell acknowledges that protests did not make a difference at the Law School.

"To my knowledge, there has been no major change in hiring or faculty, maybe even a hardening of the system since I left," he says. "I consider Harvard Law School as representative of other schools around the country, actually, probably better than other schools [in terms of minority hiring]."

Bell says increasing opposition to affirmative action and declining interest in racial diversity are hurting schools across the country.

But Law School professors say the school is hiring minorities at an acceptable rate.

"Harvard Law School has a larger percentage of Afro-American law professors than any other major law school," says Carter Professor of General Jurisprudence Charles Fried. "[There is] no deficiency in that respect."

Fried acknowledges that it is difficult to find women faculty members, but he also notes that three new women have recently been hired to the school. There are no tenured minority women at the Law School.

Fried dismisses suggestions that Harvard Law School is a victim of moral erosion. "I have no sense of that," he says.

"Is controversy inconsistent with moral leadership?"

Opinions Vary

Student opinions vary on the issues Bell raises in his book.

First-year law student Jamila Jefferson '94 says she considers the lack of minorities and women a top priority for the faculty.

"I am not pleased about it," she says. "The problem needs immediate rectification."

David Kaplan, also a first-year law student, praises the work of the admissions office in diversifying the student population at the Law School.

"As for [faculty] diversity, it is a problem," he says. "But I think it's more important to have a diverse student body."

Kaplan was eager to disprove any charges that Harvard Law lacks moral leadership.

"Harvard Law is a far more moral place than it was 20 years ago," he says. "There's a greater degree of support from the administration and just general friendliness."