300 Push Law School Reform

Three hundred first-year law students met in Austin Hall yesterday afternoon to air grievances and begin circulation of a petition demanding reform of the school's grading system.

Yesterday, they urged the adoption of temporary measures to minimize the deficiencies of the present system. Moves for the reform originated with a report by first-year law students on grades issued three weeks ago.

The first of the proposed measures asked that examinations be evaluated with a "pass" or "fail" notation. Faculty members would be encouraged to make critical comments on responses to individual exam questions and on the student's overall performance.

Closed Records

The second proposal calls for the elimination of all public use of evaluations of first-year exams. The students are requesting that these records not be used for membership on the Law Review, the Board of Student Advisors and in Legal Aid. Another aspect of the proposal would prohibit use of these evaluations by prospective employers.

After the meeting, 280 students signed a petition outlining the demands. The petition will be circulated until Monday, but no plans have yet been made concerning its submission to the faculty of the Law School.

Another Meeting

The class will meet again on April 7 to consider the action taken by the faculty up to that point.

John D. Asher '68, one of the student drafters of the report, criticized the Keeton Committee, organized to consider the reform proposals in the report.

"We have been meeting with the Keeton Committee and other faculty members for over three weeks. They do not listen to us--they do not respond," Asher said.

"One first-year professor," he said, "called us a bunch of twerps." He added that another professor has told faculty members to "talk tough" to students, to "make them feel like they are part of the decision-making process--without making any significant changes."

Despite the negative attitude of some of the faculty members, Asher said that Derek C. Bok, dean of the Law School has indicated in memos to the faculty that changes are necessary. "What happens this year remains to be seen, but what we do here today is crucial," Asher added.

One-Yard Line

"If we stop now," Asher said, "It is like beging tackled on the one-yard line. We have come so far and have such a short way to go."

"We have to bury our slight differences and score. We can. We have to tell the faculty that we just will not be chewed up by a competitive grading system--that our futures will not be determined by six day in June," Asher concluded.