Students End 25-Hour Law School Sit-In

Nine members of the Coalition for Civil Rights ended a 25-hour sit-in outside the office of Harvard Law School Dean Robert C. Clark yesterday afternoon, leaving Griswold Hall at 12:35 p.m.

The students said Monday night that they would remain in place until arrested, or until Clark responded to their satisfaction.

But after issuing a list of demands to Clark and the Law School faculty, the self-proclaimed "Griswold Nine" left the building amid cheers from a crowd of approximately 50 law students gathered to support the sit-in.

"When they tell us that they can't find a qualified minority candidate on the face of the Earth, it is just another way to tell us to sit in the back of the bus," said Bruce V. Spiva, a third-year law student, at the rally that began shortly before the students ended their sit-in.

At the rally, students criticized Clark harshly for saying Monday that the students involved in the overnight sit-in will face disciplinary action.

"Dean Clark has told us that we are testing the limits of 'appropriate behavior,"' said Charisse A. Carney, one of the nine.

"It is Dean Clark and the faculty who are violating the limits of 'appropriate behavior' by discriminating," Carney said, addressing the students and local media representatives present at the rally.

The sit-in is the latest protest staged by the coalition, which is composed of six minority student groups and the Women's Law Association.

The cornerstone of the coalition's strategy to force the hiring of more women and minority faculty members is a lawsuit filed against the University, which is currently making its way through the Massachusetts courts. This sit-in is one of a series of protests planned for the spring.

"I personally support this group's goals and methods," said Ronald S. Sullivan, president of the Black Law Students Association, at the rally.

"This faculty has created a situation in which there is no other recourse but to create an environment in which the faculty is forced to make changes," Sullivan said.

Many students at the rally said that they were upset by Clark's characterization of their activities as an "annual spring protest."

"We are not a fringe minority insecure movement," said Carney, referring to Clark's statements in a recent editorial in The Wall Street Journal.

The sit-in protesters demanded that Clark apologize for his statements in The Journal.

The students are also demanding that Clark ask Weld Professor of Law Derrick A. Bell to return to the Law School. Bell took leave in the spring of 1990 in order to protest the lack of women of color on the school's faculty.

Facing a two year limit on his academic leave, Bell requested an extension but President Neil L. Rudenstine said last month that he would not be likely to grant such an extension.

While a camera crew from WBZTV Channel 4 was able to film the rally yesterday, University Police barred the crew from entering Griswold.

"It is just standard operating procedure," said Lt. John F. Rooney, one of several Harvard University Police Department officers on the scene. "The building is closed to media members."

Media members who are not affiliated with the University must make a formal request through the news office to enter a campus building, according to Rooney.

The police officers on the scene allowed the nine students involved free exit from the building but kept other students from the area outside Clark's office.

No arrests were made at any point during the sit-in, the police said.