MY HARVARD DAYS

Professor Emeritus Dr. M.V. Pylee * 

In 1952 I was selected as a Fulbright Smith-Mundt Scholar by the United States Education Foundation in India . I was then a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science of Patna University. Among the subjects that I taught were Constitutions of India, Britain , USA and the Commonwealth. Countries. The University had started a new Department of Law in that year (1952). The only full-time faculty member of the Department was the Professor who headed it. All others were part-time lecturers selected from among the lawyers of Patna High Court.

Comparative Constitutional Law was a subject included in the syllabus of LL.B. (Hons.) course. There was, however, none among the lecturers who could teach the subject. Knowing my background, the Vice Chancellor asked me to handle the subject and help the Law Department. I was not quite confident, yet accepted the challenge. I had to do a lot of additional reading and study to equip myself for the task. I am happy to say that my classes were appreciated by the students. Here I must point out that the students were mostly employees who were working in various government departments or other organizations.

When I was selected by the US Education Foundation I had the freedom to suggest the University to which I could seek admission and the subject I was interested to study. I could indicate the names of three Universities in order of preference. My choices were Harvard, Yale and Princeton in that order. Regarding the subject, I said that I wanted to specialize in Comparative Constitutional Law. The foundation accepted my choice and nominated me to join Harvard. In June 1953 I left India by ship for the United States . Commercial air travel was rare in those days and travelling by ship I took a month to reach New York . Ten days I spent in Europe en-route to visit centres of tourist importance.

Classes for the new academic year were to begin only in late September. That meant I had nearly three months at my disposal to join an Orientation Course organised by the Harvard Business School , to attend classes of the Advanced Management Programme and visit Institutions and places of interest. Altogether it was a very useful period for getting familiar with the multifaceted American life and culture.

I was permitted to join the LL.M. degree course of Harvard Law School as I had already had a First Class LL.B. degree of Lucknow University . When I met the Chairman of the LL.M. course, Professor Paul A. Freund, a reputed authority on Constitutional Law, he warmly welcomed me and during our conversation told me that Dr. R.U. Singh, then Dean and Head of the Department of Law of Lucknow University was an old Harvard Law School student and a class fellow of his for the S.J.D. degree course. That made me very happy as I was a student of Dr. Singh at Lucknow . When I expressed my desire to specialise in Comparative Constitutional Law, he was glad as he was himself handling the main course on constitutional law. He also guided me by suggesting what other courses I could take to make my objective fulfilled.

One of the remarkable features of American Universities is the flexibility they have in organizing the courses and the freedom they give the students to choose courses of their choice. A student registered in one particular Graduate School (post-graduate Department) can choose a course in another Graduate School or more Graduate Schools . He may, thus, choose up to fifty per cent. of courses in other schools, something which we cannot imagine of in India .

Similarly, the evaluation system is very much different from what we have in India . The secrecy factor which is given undue importance here is largely absent there. Most of the examinations are open book examinations. In professional schools like the Law School , questions are set in such a manner that books and notes have little use in answering them. Studying by heart to prepare for an examination has no relevance in Graduate Schools. Grading instead of “marks” is the system which American Schools have been following for years. We are still discussing about it here.

Harvard Law School and Business School are both famous for the Case Method of Instruction which they have adopted many years ago. They are of the view that the Case Method is the most effective teaching method. The Law School has the advantage of choosing cases for classroom discussions from the reported decisions of the Supreme Court and other courts. In the Business School cases are written by professors who collect the material from business organizations. Every professor as part of his work is expected to prepare a certain number of cases every year and get them printed. I was part of a case method workshop which had eighteen members. All of us were teachers from different Universities, from different parts of the world. It was a workshop organized jointly by the Law School and the Business School and was guided by four senior professors, two from each School. It was indeed a great experience.

Harvard Law School is famous for its Harvard Law Review, a quarterly publication, which is a journal edited by Student Editors. Every year fifty students who are top-ranking in the class are selected for the Editorial Board. They elect from among themselves one as Editor. All the editorial work of the HLR is done by the student editors. Only very authoritative papers written by senior lawyers, professors or judges are chosen for publication. The student editors carefully scrutinize the contents of each paper published and they have the right to reject any paper considered not of high standard.

Barack Obama, at present the President of USA, was Editor of Harvard Law Review when he was a student of the Law School . In fact, he was the first African American to become a HLR editor. The position of the Editor is a unique honour to a student. Obama's wife Michelle Obama was also a student of Harvard Law School . But she was at the Law School a few years earlier than him. When I visited the USA in August 2008 the Presidential campaign was at its highest pitch. Every day one could see newspaper advertisements in that connection. When I went through them I noticed one missing point. The fact that Obama was HLR Editor was not adequately emphasized or highlighted. I felt that an educated and enlightened electorate of the US would appreciate it if it was properly handled and publicised. I wrote a letter to Obama during the month of August 2008 pointing out this drawback. One week later I got a reply from his campaign headquarters in Chicago acknowledging my letter and appreciating its contents and assuring me that due consideration would be given to my suggestion.

* Former Vice Chancellor, University of Cochin .