“Within months you saw the very real changes that she had implemented and really just sort of sent the signal to all of the students that Dean Kagan values students and that students were a top priority of hers,” he said.

Vignarajah, who is president of the Harvard Law Review, said the HLS campus has been in need of a “serious face-lift” for some time. He said the way a campus looks and feels is very important to everyone in the community, especially the students.

“I think when law students come to law school they come in hopes of some form of inspiration, and it may sound a little mundane but the buildings, the atmosphere, the environment that you are studying in…it’s nice when that’s a source of inspiration,” Vignarajah said.

He said Kagan “engineered very serious changes to a number of the buildings on campus and just made them much more inspiring” all the while keeping students abreast of the improvements and involved in the decision-making process.

The newest development project reinforces Vignarajah’s faith in Kagan and her vision of how students should live and learn at HLS.

“It sounds like the most recent announcement is consistent with Dean Kagan’s genuine effort to make the school the best possible place it can be for students,” he said. “And I think students, even on the way out, are really excited about the fact that the law school is going to be reenergized by her efforts.”

—Staff writer Andrew C. Esensten can be reached at esenst@fas.harvard.edu.