BOSTON -- Harvard Law School on Thursday named Elena Kagan, a scholar and former
aide in the Clinton White House, as the first female dean in the prestigious
school's 186-year history.
Kagan, who has taught at Harvard since 1999, held several jobs in the Clinton
administration, including deputy director of the Domestic Policy Council from
1997 to 1999. In 1999, she was nominated to serve on the U.S. Appeals Court for
Washington, D.C., but the Senate did not act on the nomination and it expired
when Congress adjourned in 2000.
"When an important position like this is held by the first woman, it's a
milestone," Kagan said in a telephone interview. "It's actually very
nice that at Harvard it's happening on the 50th anniversary of women's admission
to the law school. That said, it's happened at other law schools before."
Kagan replaces Robert C. Clark, who will retire in June after 14 years at the
nation's oldest continuously operating law school.
A 1986 Harvard Law graduate, Kagan later served as a clerk to former U.S.
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. She briefly practiced law before
beginning her teaching career at the University of Chicago and then moving to
Washington in 1995.
Her academic work has focused on administrative law, constitutional law and
civil procedure. She said her appointment erased any disappointment she felt
when the Senate failed to move her nomination out of committee.
"I'm grateful to the Senate Judiciary Committee," she said.
