Other professors take issue with this characterization, saying that the Law School accepts many points of view and supports many kinds of legal research.

“There’s a reason that Elena Kagan called it the ‘New York City of Law Schools,’” said Manning, the chair of the lateral hiring committee. “We have an incredibly intellectually diverse faculty that deals with a wide variety of research.”

Suk, who said she had never felt pushback on any of her own research, which includes fashion and family law, said she did not think there were any research topics that could not be pursued.

“I believe that on gender-related topics, HLS at this moment has one of the most alive, diverse, innovative and fascinating academic scenes imaginable,” she wrote in an email. “The environment is not ‘supportive’ of particular positions but rather of true exploration and difference on these topics.”

Still, Law School professor Christine Desan said that the impact of the gender disparity has an undeniable impact on faculty interactions.

“The faculty is now about 80 percent male. That’s a very different conversation than if you had 50 percent women at the table,” she said. “Day after day, I’m sitting at a table that’s 75 percent male, and that’s a different experience than if I sat with 50 percent. That does have an impact on the school and the environment.”

—Staff writer Dev A. Patel can be reached at devpatel@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @dev_a_patel.