"Mere variety is not so important as the people you get," Bailyn says. "The main thing is that you get the best scholars and leaders possible."

And many of the best, says Bailyn, come from Harvard.

"In the abstract it doesn't matter where people are trained if they are good scholars," says Porter University Professor Helen H. Vendler, who received her Ph.D. from the Harvard English Department in 1960. In reality, Vendler says, choosing faculty from a variety of universties is often necessary to create a diverse department. Different graduate programs emphasize different fields, and few departments can cover every aspect of their discipline, she says.

Vendler also says that scholars who come from other schools bring in fresh ideas and new ways of doing things. "If you've only taught at one place, then you tend to think the ideas and rules of that institution are sacrosanct," she says.

Vendler notes, however, that most of those Harvard-trained professors at the University have spent time at other universities either as assistant or tenured professors. Vendler herself spent more than 20 years at Boston University before returning to Harvard.

The English Department, like History, has for many years been dominated by scholars who received their doctorates at Harvard. More recently, young senior professors have come from elsewhere: six of the last seven appointments with tenure went to those who had earned Ph.D.s at other universities.

Such trends, say many department chairs, are likely to continue. But even as the Harvard-trained Harvard begins what may be a decline in the coming years, at least one tradition will flourish in its stead.

For this year, and in all likelihood for several more, Rudenstine will have to distribute honorary degrees to many of Harvard's new faculty--Harvard's very own welcome aboard.