Wait Until Next Year

The Law Review ended a month of negotiations with the faculty last week when it agreed to delay implementation of its controversial affirmative action plan for one year and consider alternate methods to increase the number of women and minorities on the journal.

A resolution adopted last Wednesday by a 35-26 vote applauds the faculty's endorsement of the Law Review's goal of increasing heterogeneity on the Review and encourages faculty and alumni input into the consideration of an affirmative action program.

Attention has centered on the Law Review since it adopted its affirmative action program by a slim margin last February. The plan permits consideration of race and sex in the selection of eight of the 40 members chosen every year.

Although the Law Review is formally autonomous, Albert M. Sacks, dean of the Law School, appointed a special faculty committee on March 5 to consider the Review plan.

The committee report, which was endorsed virtually in full by a faculty meeting April 29, recommended that the Review delay its plan for one year and consider proposals consistent with the "values of the Law School community."

The report questioned the validity of any affirmative action program at the Law Review and said that the plan the Review adopted would not be effective.

The Review's decision was the culmination of negotiations between the president of the Law Review, Mark B. Helm '78, and a special faculty committee.

The issue of whether to delay the plan for one year was resolved quickly, and discussion centered on whether the faculty of the Law School would endorse the principle of affirmative action.