Amped five 2010
Tushnet ’67 acknowledged that he had heard “that she would lose her temper,” but he added that Kagan led the school with a “firm hand” like a good manager. Clark as Dean, whose administrative style starkly differed from Kagan’s.Ĭlark faced an ideologically divided faculty during his time as Dean, and one of his major accomplishments was soothing the rifts that would pave the way for some of Kagan’s most transformative initiatives.īut an ambitious reform campaign at an institution that has been described as “Beirut on the Charles” for its vitriolic academic disputes also led to bruised egos and heated conversations, according to multiple sources at the Law School. “She’s a demanding dean-as she should be,” Law School Professor Alan M. “She was someone who wants to get the job done quickly, on a time-frame that is more consistent with the real world and the corporate world.”įresh from a post in the White House, Kagan brought intensity along with her proposals to remake a Law School tired of being second best to perennial rival Yale Law and criticized for a lack of concern for its student body. Cosgrove, who lauded Kagan for transforming the pace and productivity at the Law School. “There’s a lot of navel-gazing in academia,” said Dean of Students Ellen M. Several faculty members credited the success of Kagan’s sweeping initiatives and her ability to break through bureaucratic logjams at the Law School to her strong-handed management style. “Not everybody loves change,” Minow added. Some people didn’t really like it, some people disagreed.” So ‘We’re fine, we don’t have to be stepping it up’-that attitude was over when she was dean. “She held no one more than herself to high standards. Minow, who enthusiastically endorsed her predecessor’s nomination on Monday. “She brought very high expectations to the school,” said current Law School Dean Martha L. Three Law School colleagues characterized Kagan’s management style as “very Washington,” an echo of her previous administrative experience in government as Thurgood Marshall’s clerk and former President Bill Clinton’s Associate White House Counsel.
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Though her nomination as Supreme Court Justice on Monday has been warmly received by many colleagues, several individuals among the Law School’s faculty and staff interviewed by The Crimson in the last month raised questions about how Kagan’s temperament may translate to her time on the bench.Īt the official announcement of her nomination, President Barack Obama hailed Kagan, currently Solicitor General, as a “consensus builder” known for “her openness to a wide range of viewpoints.”ĭuring her five years as dean, Kagan pushed through a major curricular reform and won the hearts of students and faculty alike by reaching out with simple gestures, such as opening an ice skating rink (now closed due to budget cuts) and providing free coffee.īut multiple interviews with Law School staff depict Kagan as a brusque leader whose ambitious agenda of effecting change created a culture of high standards and sometimes fostered tense relations with some of her co-workers. In her pursuit of the highest standards at Harvard Law School during her tenure as dean, Elena Kagan gained a reputation for her effective leadership and assertive management style.