Brown University President Ruth Simmons, the first black to lead an Ivy League school, announced the formation of the commission last spring.

In a March 2002 New York Times op-ed, Ogletree alluded to the possibility of suing Harvard Law School for reparations based on the school’s past links to slaveholders

According to Ogletree, Isaac Royall, who endowed Harvard’s first law professorship, financed his gift to the school by selling slaves in Antigua.

“Institutions will either examine these matters on their own or have to respond to steps taken by others,” Ogletree said yesterday.

He said he has not raised the question of slavery reparations with University President Lawrence H. Summers. When asked if and when he would approach the administrators on the issue, Ogletree declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Brophy last night presented a proposal to the University of Alabama Faculty Senate calling on the Tuscaloosa-based institution to recognize the role slaves played in the school’s early years.

“The University is deeply implicated in the maintenance and expansion of the institution of slavery,” Brophy said.

Basil Manly, who was president of the university from 1837 to 1855, “was literally the man who swore in Jefferson Davis” as president of the Confederacy, Brophy said.

He said the university does not recognize the presence of slaves’ cabins or unmarked graves on its campus.

“The university needs a further study a la Brown of our connection to slavery and what we can do about this,” said Brophy.

Brophy said that students and faculty have been receptive to his suggestions, but he has received a hostile response from some in the community-at-large.

One e-mail to Brophy read: “Please take your fancy Harvard and Columbia degrees back to one of these institutions, where maybe someone will want to hear your complaints.”

He said other e-mails have phrased criticisms less politely.

“[Brophy] has to be extremely courageous to take on this issue in an environment where the hostility of the State of Alabama and the City of Tuscaloosa is palpable,” Ogletree said.

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