Progress at Harvard

Glenn Reynolds links to an article in the current issue of The New York Observer by Anna Schneider-Mayerson describing a recent trend towards embracing ideological diversity at Harvard Law School. Evidently, Larry Summers' appointment of fellow Clinton administration official Elena Kagan as the new Law School Dean was a smart choice. She appears to be doing a great job of encouraging the selection of the best scholars and teachers for the faculty, regardless of their politics. (In the process, also managing to attract some first-rate conservative legal scholars.)

However, judging from a recently published study in the Georgetown Law Journal by John O. McGinnis, Matthew A. Schwartz, and Benjamin Tisdell analyzing campaign donations by law school faculty members, Harvard has a long way to go before its Law School faculty "thinks like America" on political issues. (For some preliminary results from this study, you can visit Professor McGinnis' web page.)

Meanwhile, kudos to Dean Kagan and President Summers for moving in the right direction.