And while Clark is credited with during his tenure reconciling an intellectually polarized faculty, tensions at the school are far from an ancient memory.
Issues of racial sensitivity, freedom of speech, discrimination and patriotism have made waves among students and faculty and put HLS in the national spotlight this year.
Against this backdrop, some students are calling for a dean that would break traditional molds.
“[Clark] is seen as part of the ‘old guard’ of Harvard Law School which carries some backlash,” said Meeta Anand, a first-year at HLS. Citing a move by Clark to cut funding for public interest advising, Anand said Clark was fundamentally out of touch with students.
“He misunderstood his client base here as well as purported the view that Harvard Law just churns out corporate lawyers,” Anand said.
“I’d hope that our next dean would be a woman or better yet, someone of color,” said E. Garry Grundy III, a first year at HLS.
“We have to address the fact that the American legal system is dominated by white men, and what better place to start than Harvard?”
—Staff writer Lauren A.E. Schuker can be reached at schuker@fas.harvard.edu.