Dean Erwin N. Griswold of the Harvard Law School declared in a statement issued here tonight that the Law School had always opposed discrimination in placement of its students. He also announced the appointment of a faculty committee in the school’s placement office “to see that the School’s policy of non-discrimination is maintained.”
The University said that the statement had been recommended by a joint faculty-student committee on the Law School which “has had the matter of discrimination under consideration for several weeks.” The statement made no direct reference to a disclosure last February 1 that the State Commission Against Discrimination was investigating reports that Jewish students of the Law School might have faced discrimination for job placement.
In his statement tonight, Dean Griswold declared that the Harvard Law School “is committed to insuring equal opportunities for all its students and graduates seeking employment. The law of Massachusetts, like that of many other states, expressly forbids employers from discriminating in any way on grounds of race, color, religious creed, sex or national origin. We not only subscribe fully to the objectives of this legislation but believe that law schools and the legal profession have a special obligation to promote them.”
The statement added that “it is inconsistent with the obligation for a prospective employer of law students or law graduates to follow a policy of discrimination whether declared or undeclared. Nor will the Law School supply students or graduates, even at their request, with any advice or information concerning the composition or preferences of any prospective employer with respect to race, color, religious creed, sex or national origin.”
Dean Griswold announced that Prof. Lewis Loss would head the Faculty Committee in the Placement office and that the committee “will be responsible for matters of policy with respect to the placement office and will take steps, if they are needed, to see that the School’s policy of non-discrimination in employment is maintained.”
(In New York, the American Jewish Committee issued a statement lauding Dean Griswold’s announcement. Dr. John Slawson, AJCommittee executive vice-president, called the Dean’s statement “a ringing affirmation of the principles that over the generations have made Harvard synonomous with the finest in the world of academic.”)
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