Law School to Begin Project

Four Harvard professors this week announced the creation of a new project at the Law School to discuss traditionally underrepresented issues of social justice such as gay and lesbian legal thought.

Entitled the Harvard Project on Law and Social Thought, the program will begin next fall and will seek to integrate disciplines such as literary studies, social theory and feminism with traditional legal thought, said Professor of Law David W. Kennedy.

"The basic idea of the program is to stimulate a variety of innovative and progressive efforts to rethink legal education and professional culture." Kennedy said.

Kennedy said that problems of gender, workplace democracy, gay and lesbian legal studies and corruption are often overlooked in legal studies and therefore will be given special attention.

"One goal of the program will be to strengthen the Law School's commitment to the work of the faculty and students who are pursuing critical, progressive approaches to law," Kennedy said.

The program is being funded by "a nice gift" from a group of alumni, said Scott G. Nichols, Law School dean for development. He said he could not divulge the exact amount.

Kennedy and several other professors involved with the program are affiliated with the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) school of thought, which holds that the legal system reinforces prejudices inherent in the status quo. However, the program has no official connection with CLS and is open to "basically anyone," Kennedy said.

The other steering committee members are Professor of Law Gerald Frug, Assistant Dean Frederick E. Snyder and Touroff-Glueck Professor of Law and Psychiatry Alan A. Stone.

Some activities of the program will be organized on a University-wide scale, while others will be specifically geared towards law students and faculty. One seminar at the Law School will be used "as a forum for discussion of issues of social justice, for sharing student and faculty work and for discussing issues with outside scholars," Kennedy said.

The new program has generated support from other professors of law and several student organizations including the Women's Law Association (WLA).

"It's a great idea. I only wish there had been some women faculty listed," said WLA board member, Bonnie A. Savage.

The program "seems like a good idea to me," said Professor Duncan M. Kennedy '64, one the founders of CLS. "There are already five or six diverse programs here. This should be just as good," he added.

If the program is successful, it may be expanded in the future, organizers said. "The program itself is experimental. We don't know how it's going to evolve. How well it goes this year will determine its future," Nichols said.