“This isn’t a liberal or conservative issue. Environmental law is a mainstream and critical field that is tied to everything from corporate mergers to civil rights,” said Giovinazzo.

Climenko Professor of Law Charles J. Ogletree said that he “empathized with student concerns” that environmental law should get more attention at Harvard.

“It’s an academic inquiry that overlaps with so many disciplines like constitutional law and property and civil rights,” he said.

While no new faculty have been hired yet, the future for environmental law looks bright, some students said.

“I am personally very excited about the progress the school has made, and I am really looking forward to working with Professor Kagan,” second-year law student James P. Gignac said.

Gignac just stepped down from the presidency of the Law School’s Environmental Law Society.

He added that HLS will offer seven classes in environmental law next year, two more than this year.

“I think that people coming out of Harvard Law School are likely to be leaders in many different fields, and I just hope that we produce leaders in the environmental field as well,” Gignac said.

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