Fisher to Heal Law School

Roger D. Fisher '43 is no stranger to negotiations.

The emeritus professor of law, who heads the Harvard Negotiation Project, has brokered such monumental deals as the Marshall Plan and the Camp David accords.

Now Fisher, who is the author of the best-selling Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, has come out of retirement to facilitate one last dialogue: between conflicting factions at the Harvard Law School.

At the beginning of this semester, Law School students and faculty were waiting to see how Dean Robert C. Clark would deal with residual tensions from last spring's tumultuous diversity controversy. Clark's tactics were to make an official statement of conciliation and to appoint Fisher to head a "Community Building Project."

The project, designed as an ongoing effort at "jointly" tackling side by side our differences, and how to deal with them," will utilize various tactics to get all sectors of the Law School community to interact in a more positive fashion according to Fisher. Currently, a steering committee is meeting with minority student groups to discuss their concerns and how to address them.

Fisher says that he is working from the assumption that the atmosphere at the Law School is often confrontational and adversarial. "The goal is not just to beone big feely-touchy happy family with all theproblems swept under the rug," he says. "Studentsand faculty should develop the practice of beingsincere, open and respectful."

The recent spate of conflict at the Law Schoolis attributable both to the fact that traditionalinstitutions tend to be slow to change, and to thenature of the legal tradition, which operateslargely on precedent, according to Fisher. Hepoints to the "tension between stability andchange" as the decisive factor in facultydisputes, and the concordant faculty response tostudent demands.

One of the main areas that Fisher says he hopesto address is the way faculty members relateamongst themselves and to individual students.That dynamic translates into classroom situationswhich, in turn, affect the way students understandthe type of behavior appropriate to a legalisticprofession.

"To some extent, the faculty are a model ofconfrontational, adverse dealing," Fisher says."Too often we take eager, idealistic law studentsand turn out jaded, bored, greedy J.D.s who wantto make money."

Power to Allocate Funds

As head of the project, Fisher has power toallocate funds as he and the rest of the steeringcommittee--which includes Assistant Professor ofLaw Charles J. Ogletree Jr. and Touroff-GlueckProfessor of Law and Psychiatry Alan A. Stone--seefit.

Fisher says that he envisions introducingspeakers, conferences and workshops, but does notplan to institute mandatory activities. Heconcedes, therefore, that since the project willinvolve only those students who choose toparticipate, it risks addressing only those whoare already aware of the problem.

However, Fisher says the effort has receivedenthusiastic support from students and staff. Hesays that he is optimistic, but adds, "I partlymade a two-year commitment to indicate I'm notgoing to build Rome in a day."

In fact, some of the very students whoseactions and complaints sparked the creation of theproject are skeptical about its efficacy.

Second-year student X. Carlos Vasquez, who ismembership chair of the Hispanic law studentorganization La Alianza, says that many members ofhis group are concerned that "this is an effort tomake the dean look good instead of have anysubstantive changes."

Vasquez also says that the project seems tolack goals and focus, and that he is "notthoroughly convinced" that it will accomplishanything concrete. "Some of my constituents arenot entirely sure what 'community building'means," he says.

But Stone says he is optimistic about theproject. "It will be true to the spirit of the LawSchool if we can get people to dialogue instead ofshout at each other," he says

The recent spate of conflict at the Law Schoolis attributable both to the fact that traditionalinstitutions tend to be slow to change, and to thenature of the legal tradition, which operateslargely on precedent, according to Fisher. Hepoints to the "tension between stability andchange" as the decisive factor in facultydisputes, and the concordant faculty response tostudent demands.

One of the main areas that Fisher says he hopesto address is the way faculty members relateamongst themselves and to individual students.That dynamic translates into classroom situationswhich, in turn, affect the way students understandthe type of behavior appropriate to a legalisticprofession.

"To some extent, the faculty are a model ofconfrontational, adverse dealing," Fisher says."Too often we take eager, idealistic law studentsand turn out jaded, bored, greedy J.D.s who wantto make money."

Power to Allocate Funds

As head of the project, Fisher has power toallocate funds as he and the rest of the steeringcommittee--which includes Assistant Professor ofLaw Charles J. Ogletree Jr. and Touroff-GlueckProfessor of Law and Psychiatry Alan A. Stone--seefit.

Fisher says that he envisions introducingspeakers, conferences and workshops, but does notplan to institute mandatory activities. Heconcedes, therefore, that since the project willinvolve only those students who choose toparticipate, it risks addressing only those whoare already aware of the problem.

However, Fisher says the effort has receivedenthusiastic support from students and staff. Hesays that he is optimistic, but adds, "I partlymade a two-year commitment to indicate I'm notgoing to build Rome in a day."

In fact, some of the very students whoseactions and complaints sparked the creation of theproject are skeptical about its efficacy.

Second-year student X. Carlos Vasquez, who ismembership chair of the Hispanic law studentorganization La Alianza, says that many members ofhis group are concerned that "this is an effort tomake the dean look good instead of have anysubstantive changes."

Vasquez also says that the project seems tolack goals and focus, and that he is "notthoroughly convinced" that it will accomplishanything concrete. "Some of my constituents arenot entirely sure what 'community building'means," he says.

But Stone says he is optimistic about theproject. "It will be true to the spirit of the LawSchool if we can get people to dialogue instead ofshout at each other," he says