Martha L. Minow Named Dean of Harvard Law School

Martha L. Minow has been appointed dean of Harvard Law School, effective July 1, the university announced today.

Ms. Minow, who has taught at the law school since 1981, will succeed Elena Kagan, who became U.S. solicitor general this year.

Ms. Minow’s scholarship has covered a host of topics, including cultural pluralism, educational equality, and post-genocide reconciliation. Her newest book is an edited volume on government contracting and democratic control.

In a 2002 interview with The Chronicle, Ms. Minow criticized the idea that democratic deliberation must be purely secular. “I don’t think the Constitution is allergic to religion, and I don’t think the public sphere should be allergic to religion,” she said. “We can’t say to people for whom religious identity is important that they have to check that part of themselves when they walk into public spaces.”

A footnote: In unpublished small talk during that 2002 interview, Ms. Minow predicted that her former student Barack Obama, who was then toiling in relative obscurity in the Illinois State Senate, would someday be president. (Ms. Minow’s father has also been a mentor to Mr. Obama.) We heard it there first.