Keohane admits that this strategy has itsproblems. "Given that method, there are usuallylow odds at the outset of attracting desirablefaculty members," he says.

But Knowles, who was recruited away from Oxfordby then Dean Rosovsky and the Chemistry Departmentin 1973, says search committees had concentratedtoo much on movability, they might not have a deanto oversee them toady.

"Most departments make their initial choiceswithout regard to some presumed mobility," Knowlessays. "I myself would not be here if someone hadfirst asked me if I was interested in coming. Iwas very happy at Oxford."

Nevertheless, Knowles says some departments doin fact inquire about the movability ofprofessors. "There are always people who are knownto be utterly movable," he says.

Though Harvard successfully lured Schauer, hisrecruitment highlights a number of problems thatmake the process look more like a bidding war thanlike opportunities for career advancement.

As an academic professional, Schauer's wife,Virginia J. Wise , now a lecturer on law for legalresearch at the Law School, had to figure into anymove he made. And he was unlikely to make any moveat all unless there was a job opportunity for her.

"These days, people should not and do not makedecisions by themselves," Schauer says. "It's notlike Ozzie and Harriet, where Ozzie decides tomove, and the whole family jumps into the car andgoes, My wife was just as much a part of thedecision as I was."

Knowles says the academic "richness" of theBoston area makes finding jobs for spouses easier.When he courts a professor, Knowles makes sure aspouse's curriculum vitae gets to the rightadministrator at Harvard or another university.

But Keohane says that extra attention should bepaid to this problem.

"Harvard doesn't have any explicit policies forthe double hire," he says. "This is a problemwhich the University should be thinking of."

Having to hire or find jobs for spousesis not the only hurdle for universities trying tosell themselves in this buyer's market Schoolsalso aggressively have to recruit women andminorities, who make up only a small percentage ofthe national pool of scholars.

University of Wisconsin professor Nellie Y. MCIturned down an offer to teach in Harvard' Afro-AmDepartment in 1989. The Black professoracknowledges that recruiting senior minorityfaculty can be difficult for today's universities.given a consistently small pool. But she blamesthe universities themselves for a lack offoresight in the last decade.

"It's a very hard market," she says. "There area small number of senior minority group faculty.In order to attract these kind of faculty,universities have to offer the kind of packagesthat will attract them."

Today members of this small pool of top levelminority scholars are the prizes for which thefiercest battles are fought.

When Henry Louis Gates Jr. was teaching atCornell University. he was aggressively recruitedby both Princeton and Duke. After a longcourtship, the Afro-American literature specialistmade the move to Duke.