Harvard law dean will leave her post
Harvard law dean Martha Minow will leave her post at the end of the academic year after serving since 2009.
Minow says she will still teach, and will finish a book about law and alternative ways to resolve disputes, Law.com (sub. req.) reports. A press release is here, while TaxProf Blog links to additional coverage.
Minow took over the deanship when Elena Kagan left to become solicitor general and then a Supreme Court justice. Minow said her original intention was to serve for only five years.
Under Minow’s leadership, the law school set records for annual fund-raising, increased financial aid, created new fellowship programs, expanded the loan forgiveness program for students going into public-service jobs, and increased minority enrollment.
There were also some controversies during Minow’s tenure, the Law.com story points out. Someone placed black tape on the campus portraits of black professors in November 2015, leading to creation of activist student groups seeking greater diversity at the school and advocating for removal of a slaveholder crest from the school shield. The school agreed to create a new shield in March.
The school also revised procedures for handling sexual assault allegations amid criticism, but the changes spurred some law professors to claim they did not include adequate due process protections.
Harvard will be the second top law school searching for a new dean. Yale law dean Robert Post has also announced that he is leaving the deanship at the end of the school year.
