The tenure issue surfaced again this week when the Sociology Department offered a tenured position to Christopher S. Jencks '58, lecturer in Sociology.

Jencks is the author of Inequality, a book published last October which challenges traditional theories of education. In the book, Jencks theorizes that equal educational backgrounds would not ensure equal wealth and career opportunities.

Although the Department has not formally offered Jencks a professorship, Franklin L. Ford, acting dean of the Faculty, said an ad hoc committee has been set up to review Jenck's qualifications.

Jencks, who is also an associate professor at the Ed School, has held the lecturer position since September 1971. He has devoted most of his research over the last few years to sociology rather than education.

Jencks first became interested in education as a Harvard undergraduate when he took Social Sciences 136, "Character and Social Structure in America."

The Sociology Department had no monopoly this week on interesting appointments. In a transatlantic move, the English Department made overtures to Richard Ellmann, the biographer of James Joyce.

Ellman, who taught at Harvard from 1946 to 1951, currently holds the Goldsmith professorship at New College, Oxford. He is the first American to hold this post.

Although Ellmann has not been formally approached, Ford admitted that "everyone knows the English Department is very interested in him." Ellmann said last week by telephone from his Oxford home that several colleges have contacted him about a 1974 position.

Ellmann's detailed biography of Joyce, which took about eight years to write, has made him one of the most sought after men in the field of English literature. Ellmann also has written critical works on W.B. Yeats and Oscar Wilde.

Ellmann's wife strongly favors a return to the United States, Ellmann said. Mary Ellmann, who has been reviewing books in England, wrote Thinking About Women.