But Kaufman added, “the things we have done that have bearing on the BSA are things that we thought had to be done to improve the program.”
Richenthal said the committee’s report took into account not just the three students on the committee but the student body at large.
“It was very strange to us that there became this giant uproar over the BSA,” Richenthal said. “The BSA was a small part of a general report, and we never came to an official position on the role of the BSA.”
RIPPLES ACROSS CAMPUS
The report’s proposal to revise the reciprocal agreement has drawn criticism not only from the BSA, but also from the Legal Aid Bureau.
“Our main concern...is that our students are able to provide the best representation for our clients that is possible,” said Charlotte H. Sanders, who is president of the Legal Aid Bureau in her second year at the school.
Members of the bureau handle cases involving public housing, domestic violence, family law and government benefits, devoting a minimum of 20 hours a week to their work.
With students handling cases that could have devastating implications for clients, Sanders worries that some bureau members would not be able to fulfill teaching assistant duties in FYL courses.
“My client is a woman who is basically being accused of having someone live with her who is not on her lease,” Sanders said. “It’s the police officers’ word against hers. She has kids, and she would be homeless if she were kicked out of her apartment.”
“We think our work is really serious,” Sanders said, “and we wouldn’t want [first-years] to get bad instruction because our members are focused on their clients.”
While the bureau expressed its views in a letter to Kaufman last week, the Law Review—the third organization affected by the reciprocal rule—has yet to weigh in.
Second-year student Thiruvendran Vignarajah, president of the Law Review, said he is “not sure that members of the Law Review have had time to digest all of its implications.”
“My personal sense is that there is some value to keeping different groups charged with different responsibilities to insure that each group’s membership does the best job it can,” he said. “But there may be editors who can handle some teaching responsibilities along with their Law Review work.”
Kagan could not be reached for comment yesterday afternoon. Cromwell Professor of Law David L. Shapiro ’54, who was co-chair of the FYL committee for the fall term, is on leave this semester.
—Staff writer Daniel J. Hemel can be reached at hemel@fas.harvard.edu