“The feeling around the Law School is that the shoe may drop any day now,” one HLS professor says. “It is getting awfully late—and we have a capital campaign that needs to start in June.”

“Spring break was around the time that everyone envisioned this problem getting resolved,” he adds.

The Students Cry

While the faculty has remained relatively quiet thus far, complaints by students that their voices are not being heard are growing louder.

More than 200 students packed a meeting with Summers at HLS Tuesday night, bringing concerns ranging from diversity to quality of student life.

Many criticized current HLS Dean Robert C. Clark for a lack of attention to student concerns.

A few dozen rallied outside of Austin Hall beforehand, calling for greater diversity—in the student body, ranks of the faculty and perhaps in the form of the new dean.

Many students complained that they lacked a formal say in the dean selection.

Summers responded that the deanship was not up for negotiation.

A survey co-authored by an HLS student found that 47.5 percent of second-and third-year law students ranked student concerns as their top priority for the new dean. Charisma, courage, and committment to public interest law and diversity were also popular answers.

“I think our survey primarily reflects the students’ unhappiness with the administration,” third-year student Michael J. Passante says.

“You look at people at Stanford or Yale Law Schools and they are happier—the future dean could do a lot to decrease class sizes and bureacracy to improve quality of student life.”

“Clark is a very nice man, but he isn’t particularly forceful or responsive to student concerns about quality of life or diversity,” Passante says.

—Staff Writer Lauren A.E. Schuker can be reached at schuker@fas.harvard.edu