Minority professors around the nation say that the Bell incident, while more dramatic than most, is hardly atypical. The lack of respect shown to Bell by faculty and students is prevalent throughout American law schools, they say.

"We are now seen as almost superfluous, that our time has past," says Delgado, of Southern Illinois. "We get fewer students and colleagues willing to support us."

"There's a deep intellectual disrespect for us because we are Black or Hispanic," says Morris, Tulane's only Black among the school's 37 law professors.

Much of this, they believe, comes from students, who often view minority professors as "tokens," hired under affirmative action programs which are designed to reach federal quotas.

"Many students feel that they are being cheated by someone who's been hired under affirmative action," says Patricia A. King, an associate professor at Georgetown Law School. "And affirmative action, wrongly in my view, is regarded as finding someone who's not as qualified."

"One can't help but feel that there's a special burden to overcome in terms of having credibility with students," says Christopher F. Edley, Jr., an assistant professor who last month became the fourth Black to receive tenure in the history of Harvard Law School. Edley and Bell are currently the only Blacks tenured at Harvard, the nation's oldest law school; two other Black assistant law professors are also on the faculty.

"There's more hostility to affirmative action, period," says Daniel J. Givelber, dean of Northeastern Law School. "That makes it very difficult" for minority professors, he says.

As a result, minority professors feel that more and more students are challenging them in the classroom, dismissing their views and questioning their competence.

"I think it's our legitimacy that's being challenged and that is clearly tied to our views and the kinds of problems we address," Austin says.

"I would love it if all they did was debate my views," Morris says. "But they're questioning my basic right as a teacher to choose my material."

Among students, Delgado says, he finds not only "an unwillingness to engage in serious repartee, but simple dismissal" of their views.

Good Teaching Commands Respect

But Georgetown Law School Dean Robert Pitofsky disputes Delgado's claim. "I think [minority] views are taken very seriously," he says. "When they go into class and demonstrate proficiency, the students will accept them," Pitofsky says. "A good teacher, white or Black, will be accepted by the students."

Stephen T. Yandle, associate dean at Yale Law School, agrees with Pitofsky. "I see no distinctions being made [by students] between minority law professors and their colleagues," he says.

Minority professors also feel that they are overburdened with committee work and counseling duties. Because there are usually only two or three minorities on a law school faculty, and because minority representation is usually required on faculty committees, they find themselves spending an inordinate amount of time at committee meetings. And because they are viewed as sensitive to the needs of minority students, they are often expected to counsel them.