A black Kagan recruit makes the case for confirmation
According to some of the media I have read lately, I do not exist. Yet I live, breathe, and pen these words in support of Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court.
I am an African-American law professor at Harvard who was recruited by Elena Kagan during her deanship. I use the word "recruited" decidedly. The dean does not "hire" any professor at Harvard; rather, the faculty votes on prospective members. To be sure, the dean's role in the hiring process is critical, but she alone cannot hire anyone.
At the time of my appointment, then-Dean Kagan aggressively recruited me and, in the end, persuaded me to leave my professorship at the Yale Law School in favor of Harvard. How did she do this? Kagan offered me the directorship of the prestigious Harvard Criminal Justice Institute, the nation's preeminent teaching and research institute on criminal law, and the directorship of Harvard's Trial Advocacy Workshop, a nationally-known teaching program that brings in some of the country's top lawyers and judges to train Harvard law students during an intensive three week trial skills workshop. I can report that Elena Kagan used every bit of her discretionary authority to make the offer to come to Harvard far too attractive to turn down.
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