A Confident Vision in Turbulent Times

Law School Dean James Vorenberg '49 once joined a march on his own office.

Several years ago, in what he calls his favorite demonstration, Vorenberg left his office to greet about 200 protesters, and watched them file past him into his office until he found himself tagging along in the back of the line.

But colleagues say they can cite few other instances when Vorenberg--law dean since 1981--has acted as a follower. Although Vorenberg was caught in the middle of a bitter ideological debate that rocked the school and virtually split the faculty, his initiatives have largely shaped the policies that have been implemented in times of calm.

Just months before announcing his plans to step down from the deanship, Vorenberg set in motion what may prove his most enduring legacy at the Law School--a program of long-range planning to review the physical, curricular and financial aspects of the Law School. Carried out under the leadership of Associate Deans Andrew L. Kaufman and Frank E.A. Sander and with the help of about 20 other faculty members, the comprehensive project was completed earlier this spring.

And the findings of the report mirror the broad goals for the often-embattled Law School which Vorenberg has espoused throughout his eight-year tenure: increasing the size and diversity of the faculty, enhancing the school's international law curriculum and building up the clinical studies program.

"I think the entire process and result of having a long-range plan was what was most important to him and also his major accomplishment as dean," says Associate Dean for Development Scott G. Nichols. "It reflects [Vorenberg's] great vision."

In a show of support for the departing Vorenberg, the faculty voted unanimously in April to accept the planning report, "which doesn't happen very often at Harvard Law School," as one administrator notes.

For most of Vorenberg's tenure, however, observers have criticized the Law School for what they perceived as an unproductive set of political battles over tenure decisions. Polarized along ideological lines, the law professors have fought bitterly over normally routine promotions from tenure-track to senior-level positions. As a result, the school has seemed less attractive to both students and scholars.

These conflicts were most visible with the tenure votes on Daniel Tarullo, David Trubek and Clare Dalton--in 1985, 1986 and 1987, respectively. Denied promotions amidst allegations of political bias, the three scholars were adherents of the radical Critical Legal Studies (CLS), a school of thought holding that the law is rooted in dominant social norms and not abstract notions of justice.

Politics and ideology forced the normally staid law faculty into warring factions. And Vorenberg, unable to resolve the political infighting, asked President Derek C. Bok to intervene--prompting charges that the law faculty had lost its autonomy by calling in the president. In the end, none of the CLS scholars received tenure, as Bok reversed the faculty vote granting Dalton tenure and later confirmed the faculty's vote to deny a post to Trubek.

Despite all the controversy, though, sources say Vorenberg backed both Trubek and Dalton in their attempts to win promotion.

Vorenberg "tried very hard to arrive at his own considered judgments on each case and to state those judgments candidly," says Professor of Law Frank I. Michelman. "And he tried to state his judgments in a fashion that was moderate and non-adversarial."

"He's been a healing spirit at a time when we needed to be brought together," says Professor of Law Phillip B. Heymann.

In Search of Diversity

But beyond the aftertaste of mistrust, the tenure disputes have left the Law School with a reputation for intolerance of ideological difference.

Still, Vorenberg maintains that support for scholarly diversity has been one of his goals during his tenure as dean--and he says he is convinced that intellectual pluralism will result from some of the changes proposed in the long-range planning report. For example, both individual effort and Law School funding will be devoted to hiring more international law experts and to integrating a global perspective into the basic curriculum, he says.

"We think increasingly that we are dependent on other countries in the world, especially with the coming changes in the Economic Community," says Sander. "Working international elements into the basic courses will require more faculty."

The law faculty has "about 10 members who care a lot about the international field," says Vorenberg. "We need more than anything another three, four or five for whom it is the most important work." He adds that he would support the creation of fellowships to encourage graduates to pursue interests in international law.

Some colleagues say Vorenberg's commitment to academic diversity is most clearly seen in his support for the clinical studies program, which supplements classroom work with hands-on advocacy experience. Having started its clinical studies program in the early 1970s, Harvard is widely regarded as a pioneer in the field. The program has evolved and, under Vorenberg, grown over the years; currently it includes such projects as a legal aid clinic to help AIDS patients.

"Under Dean Vorenberg's leadership this law school became the major center of clinical legal education in the country," says Professor of Law Lance M. Liebman.

The long-range planning report "is premised on the notion that clinical placements and offerings will increase," says Director of Clinical Programs Daniel L. Greenberg.

"It presents ways to secure and expand the clinical program," says Kaufman. But a major challenge, he adds, will be funding any new projects; clinical programs already occupy a huge share of the school's budget.

Administrators and faculty members insist, however, that innovation is not going to be put on hold while the school plans the enormous capital fundraising drive required to accomodate the proposals.

Next year, a Criminal Justice Center will be created to parallel the Legal Services Center, in which law students gain practical experience by handling civil cases in Jamaica Plain. Only the start-up money for the new center has been allocated, according to Greenberg, so a skeleton administration for the center will be established next year. Students will not be able to participate in the center until the following academic year.

These individual plans for expansion at the Law School are components of Vorenberg's broader program to bolster the size and heterogeneity of the faculty, a change the outgoing dean says is necessary to offer better educational opportunities.

Since Vorenberg was named dean, about one-third of the current faculty has been appointed, he says. And the dean's "very serious" commitment to diversity is also reflected in the number of women and minority professors who have been tenured during the past eight years, Liebman notes.

In 1987, the Harvard Association of Black Faculty and Administrators, co-chaired by Professor of Law Derrick A. Bell, awarded Vorenberg the C. Clyde Fergusen Award for his "contributions to enhancing diversity in the Harvard community." The group cited a 50 percent increase of minority representation on the Law School's faculty and staff.

Vorenberg "has certainly been a leader in increasing diversity on the faculty," says Bell.

According to the school's spokesperson, Michael Chmura, the number of tenured women has grown to five, and the single minority professor who was on the tenure track when Vorenberg assumed the deanship has been joined by three tenured Black scholars and two junior professors who are minorities.

"I think the increased diversity has already made a distinct difference in the school and in our ability to think and teach about important subjects of great concern to those groups," says Vorenberg, who will officially step down from his post on July 1.

Yet while students have applauded the gains that have been made in the Vorenberg years, demonstrations during the last year indicate the distance they feel the Law School must still travel.

Last May, 50 members of the Black Law Students Association--joined by Bell--occupied Vorenberg's office for 24 hours to protest the paucity of minority professors. And Alianza, the school's Hispanic student organization, held two silent demonstrations and postered the campus this spring to protest the lack of a Hispanic professor. In April 125 law students held a study-in as part of a protest involving students at over 35 law schools nationwide demanding greater faculty diversity.

Vorenberg's response to the protests has been to tell students he is aware of their concerns and emphasize that he finds their non-disruptive protest tactics effective.

"As long as it doesn't go beyond what is appropriate and lawful in the Law School community," says Vorenberg. "And I do not feel the protests in the period I have been dean have gone beyond that point. There is some value in students' reminding the faculty what concerns may be of particular interest to the students."

Soon, though, students' concerns will no longer preoccupy the dean. When Professor of Law Robert C. Clark assumes his post next month, Vorenberg and his wife Betty will travel to Indonesia and India, and possibly China.

After that, Vorenberg says he isn't sure about his own long-range plans. Yet, he cautions, "It's important not to rest on our oars, but to keep looking for diversity."