Harvard will allow an associate professorship to extend a maximum of eight years. Since Terrill has only held that post for three years, according to members of the department, he will be able to remain at Harvard beyond this academic year.

A close colleague said yesterday that Terrill finds himself without a position now because "two rugs were pulled out from under him." He cited the Government Department's decision not to offer tenure to Terrill and the recent ouster of Australian Prime Minister E. Gough Whitlam.

Terrill is a close associate of Whitlam, the Labor party leader, and would have been assured of a high government position had he returned to Australia before the ouster.

Government Department sources said this week that members of the East Asian Research Center were annoyed at the Government Department's decision, at a time when Harvard's giants in East Asian studies are retiring or planning to do so.

But members of the Government Department emphasized that Terrill would not have been a replacement for John K. Fairbank '29, Higginson Professor of History, who will retire at the end of this academic year, because Fairbank is a Chinese historian.

Fairbank and Edwin O. Reischauer, University Professor, both said this week they were sorry to hear about the decision. "But," Fairbank said, "Everytime you add a professor you have to have $1 million--the problem is the resources you have."

Students yesterday expressed surprise also at the Government Department's decision. Felicia Marcus '77 said last night, "I was surprised to find out that he wasn't tenured to begin with. His area--Chinese international politics--fills a crucial spot for students of contemporary China, and he teaches it very well. I wish there were some way to keep him here."

Michael NgQuinr, a graduate student in Government who has been a teaching assistant in Terrill's course, Government 177, "China in International Politics," for two years, said last night, "Ross is one of the most concerned China scholars and devoted teachers on campus. We shall miss him.