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Law School Silent After Activist Past

"I don't care about Islamic Banking Law orJapanese Business Dispute Resolution," Oakes says,referring to two courses offered at the LawSchool.

"You have to have interested students fordebate and for change, and in that respect thisplace is pretty much of a factory. The focus moststudents have today is money," she says.

But student group leaders say that under thesurface calm, activism for a more diverse facultycontinues.

"The rallies and sit-ins had a different kindof effectiveness...but we have to tailor ourefforts to the time," Black Law StudentsAssociation (BLSA) President Linda S. Dunn says."We realize that change is slow and incremental."

Instead of sitting-in at administrators'offices, student leaders are today seekingfriendly dialogue with those same administrators.

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The Hispanic Law Students Association, AALSA,Lambda and the BLSA all have ongoing discussionswith faculty members and Clark.

The groups have presented lists of eligibleminority professors to chairs of Law Schoolfaculty selection committees and to Clark.

"Concerning all minority diversity gay andlesbian issues, [Clark] is comfortable andsupportive and is willing to speak with us, as hedid about the [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff Gen.] Colin Powell protest," Sears says.

"While some minority appointments have beenmade recently, we are still to see anAsian-American faculty appointment," says Shau."That is something we would really like to seehappen."

Many students say the new, quieter methods arebetter and more effective means of implementingchange.

"Tension doesn't really help things," sayssecond year student Jessica R. Herrera, who isrunning for the Law School Council presidency."The memory of past problems is still present andpeople are reluctant to initiate more problems."

Not all students supported the old activismwhen it was going on, and many do not miss thedisruptions.

Second year student Michael G. DeSombre sayspeople have "noticed the quiet" and are relieved.

"If you objected to the activists on anygrounds, it was condemned because of politicalcorrectness pressure," says DeSombre. There was a"lack of respect for authority" on the part ofsome protestors which was not completelyjustified, he says.

And other students say that while they weresympathetic to the protestors, they could see theadministration's side of the issue as well.

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