First Judicial Board Meeting

voting members is still shaky.

"Things have been very good so far," said member John B. Bartholomew '89. But he added, "The faculty are kind of running the show."

"I have a feeling that at first students are going to be a little nervous," said Gordon M. Strause '89, another of the four undergraduate members of the Judicial Board. He added that faculty members have been accepting of student input so far, but that the real test will come in the first few cases the Judicial Board hears.

At the board's second meeting, members discussed existing standards of free speech at Harvard and how the group might have handled several past cases including a disrupted speech by former contra leader Adolfo Calero at the Law School in October and a blockade of a South African diplomat in Lowell House in the spring of 1985.

But the Judicial Board has not yet formulated any specific rules or regulations that will govern student behavior. The board is designed to create a common law of sorts through its decisions on specific cases.

"The law is built on cases, and in the absence of cases, I don't think we will be sitting down and writing any laws yet," said Judicial Board member Sally Falk Moore, who is dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS).

"We're still talking about things very much in the abstract," said member Adam F. Falk, a first-year physics student in GSAS who is one of two graduate student members. "But it's hard to know what kind of effect that will have on cases."

Several members said the briefings on issues will help more with the Judicial Board's role as precedent-setter than as jury.

"It was an interesting first meeting," Strause said. "But I'm not sure it will provide that much help in deciding cases."

Judicial Board Chairman Charles E. Maier, professor of history, suggested the informal speaker series, and the other members agreed it would be useful, according to several student members. Maier, who was appointed chairman by Dean of the Faculty A. Michael Spence, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Perry, who teaches undergraduate courses on civil liberties and constitutional law, said he was invited by Maier to present an outline of what the Supreme Court has said about free speech.

"They [the members of the Judicial Board] are just beginning to talk about what are the issues involved in free speech," Perry said. "They are interested in continuing and having discussions to avoid issues before they come up."

But he added, "We didn't get very far" in the free speech discussion. "Most of the law doesn't have to do with private institutions, but it's a good starting point," said Perry, who is not a member of the board.