Not every Harvard Law School student organization on campus has made its way into the Yearbook. Short-lived and unofficial organizations are well-documented in the Harvard Law Record, though they may have little other presence in collections held in Historical & Special Collections or Harvard University Archives.
HLS students have participated in groups composed of different HLS student organizations and across Harvard schools. There was a huge increase in the number of organizations on campus beginning in the 1970s, which was also a period of coalition building. During the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, HLS groups such as the Coalition for Civil Rights, Third World Coalition, Affirmative Action Coalition, Coalition on Gay and Lesbian Issues, and Coalition for Diversity addressed antidiscrimination, civil rights, faculty diversity, and the needs of minority students on campus. Student coalitions bridged the gaps between more narrowly defined groups to advocate for social, political, and academic change.
Institutionalized mechanisms for student feedback and input have existed at HLS for over a century, first in the form of the Law School Council of the Phillips Brooks House Association. In more recent decades, the Law School Council (LSC)—known today as the Student Government Association (SGA)—submitted recommendations and reforms on behalf of the student body to the HLS and Harvard University administrations.
Image Credit: “Spicy Reforms Revealed During Legal Ed Session”; Harvard Law Record, vol. 62, No. 3, (February 13, 1976); HOLLIS 990001167900203941