The Law School faculty voted unanimously last week to grant a lifetime appointment to David B. Wilkins '77, a Black assistant professor, according to a spokesperson there.

If his promotion is approved by President Neil L. Rudenstine, Wilkins will become the first Black legal scholar to be offered tenure by Harvard since Professor of Law Randall L. Kennedy in 1989.

Wilkins, who held a tenure-tracked position, will boost the total number of tenured Black professors at the Law School to four.

Wilkins is a graduate of the Law School and hasbeen an assistant professor there since 1984. Hewas also a legal methods instructor during histime as a student.

In 1981-82, Wilkins was law clerk to SupremeCourt Justice Thurgood Marshall. Subsequently hewas an associate at the Washington trial law firmof Nussbaum, Owen and Webster, specializing incivil litigation.

The decision to offer tenure to Wilkins comesat a time when the Law School's hiring practicesare under severe criticism as being discriminatoryagainst women, minorities and openly gay people.

Of the 64 tenured and tenure tracked professorsat the Law School, six are Black men and five arewhite women.

Weld Professor of Law Derrick A. Bell Jr. leftthe school on an unpaid leave of absence two yearsago, demanding the school offer tenure to a womanof color.

Students have also recently held a sit-in atthe offices of Dean Robert C. Clark, demandinggreater diversity on the faculty.

Student reaction to the decision to offertenure to Wilkins has been enthusiastic.

"He is loved by many of his students and isclearly qualified to be a tenured facultymembers," said John C. Bonifaz, a third-year lawstudent and a member of the Coalition for CivilRights.

Bonifaz said that Wilkins's promotion does notalter their position on what they consider thefundamental problem--the Law School's allegedlydiscriminatory hiring policies.

"While we are happy for Professor Wilkins, thisone vote doesn't detract from the larger issue,"said Bonifaz. "Whether or not there's going to bea real change is to be seen in the hiringdecisions of the next few months.