Law Students Rail Against Forced Attendance

Students at Harvard Law School (HLS) are up in arms over tightened enforcement of the school's attendance policy.

Professors can now drop students who do not attend a substantial number of classes without informing the students in writing beforehand.

The former policy warned students with low attendance records that they would suffer disciplinary action if they did not increase their attendance.

In an informal survey conducted by the Harvard Law Record, 80 to 90 percent of students opposed the change.

"When you come to law school, you expect to be treated as an adult," said Seth J. Persily, a third-year law school student.

"The new policy does the exact opposite; It's almost like we've moved from college back to junior high school. We're smart enough to know what we have to do in law school to learn the material," Persily said.

Benjamin S. Lehrer '90, a third-year and editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Record, said he also opposes the revision of the rule.

"The new policy violates our right to due process of law," he said. "It doesn't address the issues behind why students are not attending class, such as the fact that a number of professors have poor teaching skills."

"Forcing students to go to class when they don't want to or can't is not a good way of addressing what's wrong with the legal environment here. The administration has not taken other steps to address any of these issues, and that's unfortunate," Persily said.

Last spring, the Law School Legal Education Committee, chaired by Professor of Law Richard D. Parker and consisting of seven faculty members and three law students, unanimously recommended the revised rule to the faculty. Seventy-eight percent of faculty members approved the change.

The change was proposed to make enforcement of the old rule more effective. The committee said in a statement last spring that the revision of the attendance policy "was intended to make the rule's application not just easier, but possible."

Professors are split on whether they intend to adhere to the policy.

In a sampling conducted by the Record, 6 of 11 professors indicated that they would not enforce the attendance rule.

Law School Professor Detlev F. Vagts '48 said he generally agrees with the policy.Although he will not monitor attendance all of thetime, he said he expects students to be in classfor at least the two most important lectures,which he makes clear in the syllabus and duringwhich he will take attendance.

Vagts said he will talk to students who do notattend class on a regular basis before taking anydisciplinary action.

Although he voted for the policy, Professor ofLaw Frank I. Michelman '60 said he did so toemphasize the importance of class attendance.

"I do not feel an obligation to theadministrative board to police an attendancepolicy," he said in an interview with the Record

Vagts said he will talk to students who do notattend class on a regular basis before taking anydisciplinary action.

Although he voted for the policy, Professor ofLaw Frank I. Michelman '60 said he did so toemphasize the importance of class attendance.

"I do not feel an obligation to theadministrative board to police an attendancepolicy," he said in an interview with the Record