Wittcoff gave examples of how students have aninteractive relationship with professors andtherefore are affected by the lack of diversity."If there were no students it would be a researchinstitute; if there were no teachers it would be alibrary," she said.
Both the students and the University citedprecedents to bolster their arguments.
Wittcoff described three cases in which shesaid courts allowed various groups, such asneighbors or co-workers, to sue on the groundsthat they were denied the benefits of working inan integrated community.
Ryan said the courts already had limited whocould profess grievances, citing the case ofBeard V. Toyota Motors.
Responding to one justice's question, Ryan saidthat only those who are party to allegeddiscrimination have standing to bring suit.
Controversy over faculty hiring at the LawSchool reached national prominence two years agowhen professor of Law Derrick Bell took a leave ofabsence, protesting a lack of a woman of colorfaculty member.
In an interview with The Crimson yesterday,Bell said he would continue his protest and notreturn to the University until a woman of color istenured in the Law School.
Throughout the controversy, statistics havebeen used by both sides to argue their case.
Of 64 tenured or tenure track faculty in theLaw School, six--including Bell--are Black men andfive are white women.
Ryan said the argument that the Law School wasnot diverse would be dispelled statistically ifonly one more woman of color had been hired.
The University has pointed all along to anincrease in the percentage of recent facultyappointments that have been women or minorities.
But Hankins argued in her remarks thatstatistical diversity was not the issue so much asactive discrimination.
"This is a disparate impact case," saidHankins, a third-year law student. "It gets provedat trial rather than by looking at statistics."
The high court is not expected to rule for atleast a month. Ryan said the justices could takeas long as six months to make their decision.
In interviews after the court appearance, bothRyan and Hankins said they were pleased