Clark Appointment Made Official; Bok Says Dean Will Be Conciliatory

At a hastily arranged Law School faculty meeting yesterday, President Bok made it official, naming Professor of Law Robert C. Clark as the next Law School dean.

A 44-year-old corporate law scholar, Clark was chosen for the post despite objections from many of his colleagues that he will polarize an already divided faculty. Bok introduced Clark at yesterday's faculty meeting, telling approximately 45 law professors gathered in Pound Hall that he had selected Clark because of his distinguished scholarship and leadership qualities.

The faculty members--many of whom on Thursday had sharply criticized the selection--gave Clark a "warm and sustained round of applause," Bok said in an interview yesterday.

Clark said Bok first offered him the post last week, and that he accepted the appointment in a private meeting Tuesday evening. Bok said he reached his decision "two or three weeks ago."

"I felt that [Clark] had certain qualities that were very important for a dean--high intellectual standards and a strong commitment to building the ablest faculty possible," Bok said. "I think he's very interested in legal education and the reform of legal education, and I think he has a remarkably strong character."

Considered the nation's leading scholar in his field, Clark said that as dean he would concentrate on improving the Law School's academic programs and standards. Clark will officially succeed outgoing Dean James Vorenberg '49 on July 1.

"My basic slant on what I'm trying to do is make the Law School one of the greatest centers of thought on legal education in the world, with the best teaching and scholarship," Clark said.

But professors contacted yesterday said they were concerned that Clark--an outspoken critic of the Law School's left wing and radical scholars--would deepen the already serious ideological rifts in the faculty. Clark has often criticized adherents of the radical Critical Legal Studies (CLS) movement, who say that the law is an instrument of social injustice.

"It's a disaster for the Law School at a time when we needed someone to help restore trust within the faculty," said Warren Professor of Legal History Morton J. Horwitz, a CLS adherent. "We have instead somebody who by temperament, ideology and educational outlook is most likely to polarize the faculty."

But Clark, who has called the CLS movement "deeply pernicious," and urged that it be "combatted in legal education," said yesterday he did not intend to persecute the radical scholars or purge them from the school.

"I have no plan to clamp down and squash the crits," Clark said.

Twice in the last four years Bok has intervened in the traditionally independent tenure review process, denying CLS scholars tenured posts after close faculty votes. Both times, Clark publicly attacked the proposed appointments.

Bok said he had "long and specific conversations" with Clark about his past hostility towards the radical scholars and said he expected Clark to be more conciliatory as dean.

And while members of a faculty search committee said Thursday that Bok seemed to ignore their reservations about Clark, Bok said yesterday he had considered their recommendations and did not feel the choice defied the faculty committee's opinions.

Students and faculty members said they were also concerned that Clark would be insensitive to race and gender issues. When Professor of Law Derrick A. Bell--one of two tenured Black professors at the Law School--held a sit-in in 1987 to protest the faculty's vote to deny a CLS adherent tenure, Clark said "This is a university--it's not a lunch counter in the deep South."

But Clark said yesterday that as dean he would urge the Law School to seek out women and minorities for the faculty "more systematically than in the past."

Clark was originally elected to serve on the faculty committee advising Bok on the dean search, but the president said yesterday that Clark removed himself in December when he realized he was one of the final candidates under consideration. Professors added that Clark did not attend earlier meetings when he was being discussed as a candidate.

The divisions in the Law School's faculty yesterday were mirrored by those in the student body. About 50 students gathered yesterday afternoon outside the faculty meeting room--some to protest the appointment and others to support Clark.

A 1972 Law School graduate, Clark received his tenure apointment in 1979 after a four-year teaching stint at Yale Law School. Students have said Clark is a popular and well-liked teacher, noted for singing about corporate law in class.