Effort to Solicit Student Views On Law Dean Is Finally Underway

The Law School Governance Committee's campaign to gather student opinion about the selection of a new Law dean is finally underway.

The committee was supposed to submit a report on students' views to President Pusey by the end of February, but that deadline was extended indefinitely last week.

The only official solicitation of student views completed before the original deadline was a series of daily forums attended by about 75 of the Law School's 1800 students.

"We simply had to have more time to do the thorough job that President Pusey requested," Peggy Kniffin, a second-year Law student on the Governance Committee, explained this week.

A questionnaire designed to sound out student sentiment was distributed in classes at the Law School last Wednesday, canvassing most of the student body. The results of the questionnaire should be tabulated by the end of this week.

The questionnaire is composed of five questions concerning the issues involved in the selection of the new dean. It asks opinions about the qualities which should be sought in candidates for dean and about the selection process itself.

Individual Discussions

In addition to the questionnaire, the Governance Committee is scheduling discussions this week with individual student groups at the Law School.

The final phase of the committee's report will derive from a forum on legal education planned for tomorrow night in Austin Hall. The forum-whose topic is "The Future of Legal Education at Harvard" -grew out of an independent movement by Law students for a "candidates' night" to question prospective candidates for dean.

Robert J. Dwyer, a second-year Law student who is organizing the forum, said Sunday, "We hope it [the forum] won't turn into a cross-examination of candidates because it is not meant to focus on the issue of a new dean."

Instead, Dwyer said, the forum is "aimed at stimulating some dialogue between faculty and students at the Law School because no one here really appreciates what the other side thinks about the school itself."

Professors Speaking

Two Law professors-Clark Byes and Charles Fried-will speak briefly at the forum along with first-year Law student Ronald Simon and second-year student Richard D. Klein. The four will then act as the panel for an open discussion of the topic.

Neither Byes nor Fried are considered candidates for dean.

Letters have been sent to Law School Faculty by Abram J. Chayes '43, chairman of the Governance Committee inviting them to attend the forum and participate in the discussion.

Following the forum, the Governance Committee will begin work on its report to Pusey and formal student participation in the selection process will end.

Chayes has expressed the hope, however, that "a continuous interchange between the selectors and the Governance Committee, and therefore the student body, will be maintained during the narrowing process in making a final decision."