BLSA to Include Non-Blacks

Responding to pressure from law students and administrators, the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) voted last week to rescind its policy of excluding non-Blacks from membership.

The decision, most likely intended as an attempt to entrench itself within the mainstream of the Law School community, was a tough and controversial one that many BLSA members saw as a step towards increased campus recognition.

Robert James, president of the BLSA, yesterday declined to comment on the decision. Other officers of the organization could not be reached.

Some non-Black students, such as third-year John Bates had complained to administrators that they felt the Blacks-only policy of the BLSA was discriminatory.

Last March Bates, who is white, was told by then-BLSA president Linda Dunn that people like him couldn't join the group, according to Bates.

So Bates went to Dean of Students Suzanne Richardson armed with charges that the BLSA was violating Law School codes guaranteeing equal access to any officially sponsored activity.

"In effect, the University was sanctioning the exclusionary policy because it was providing financial support to the BLSA," Bates said. "I had a fundamental problem with the University supporting an organization with a discriminatory policy."

The BLSA considered Bates's concern last spring. But at the time the group's members didn't think it warranted a constitutional change, the Harvard Law Record reported last week.

Over the summer, however, the BLSA members apparently had a change of heart. On Sept. 12 the group voted again on the issue--and the next time they vote the Black students won't be alone in deciding the fate of the club.

The Harvard Law Record reported that the vote was 80-12 in favor of opening the BLSA's membership to anyone.

The recent vote won't, however, change the basic goals of the organization: To support and serve Black students and to encourage closer ties between Blacks and the larger Law School community.

While not everyone in the group is happy with the result of the vote, according to a source close to the issue, the move is generally viewed as a "positive step forward."

BLSA member Willie Epps, a third-year law student, said he is "very pleased that the BLSA has opted to have an open membership policy."

"This will help increase the presence of the BLSA and African Americans on campus," he said.