"For all Harvard says about being devoted to the quality of undergraduate education, I don't think there's a single change they have made in the program in the last three years that's improved the quality of teaching," charges one veteran Expos teacher who recently left the program. "Not a one."

Positive on Two Policies

In interviews, students and teachers were generally positive about two Expos policies: the requirement that students revise all work they submit, and the mandated one-on-one conferences between

Taking Expository writing class at Harvard changed the quality of my writing by: Making it much better  9% Making it much better  52 No effect  34 Making my writing worse  5

Expository Writing should be a required course for all Harvard students: Agree  55% Disagree  45

My expos course was: Well taught  41% Poorly taught  18 Average  41

Source: Crimson polling unit. 443 students surveyed; margin of error =±4% teachers and students to discuss writing.

And teachers widely praise the hiring systemfor its thoroughness. Candidates for jobs in Exposare required to undergo a rigorous process duringwhich they must critique students' papers, submittheir own writing and agree to be interviewed.

In recent weeks, Sommers and new seniorpreceptor Gordon C. Harvey have said they areworking on plans to encourage initiative in thedepartment. And Harvey and Sommers have saidrecently they may form a student advisorycommittee to counsel Expos.

But all this is unlikely to change what nearlyall of the teachers interviewed say is theprogram's largest administrative problem: thefour-year limit on teaching jobs.

Introduced by Marius and Sommers in the wake ofinternal turmoil in the department four years ago,this rule limits all teachers, who work underone-year contracts, to four years of teaching inthe program. After that a teacher must leave, nomatter how good the teacher is or how much he orshe likes the job.

"If I were a teacher, I would complain," says asource in the Faculty administration familiar withthe department. "It's not a very good system."

Worse than its effect on teachers' lives may bethe rule's impact on student learning.Teachers--including Harvey, the seniorpreceptor--argue that because the skill ofteaching writing is difficult to learn, manyinstructors have to leave just as they are hittingtheir stride in the classroom.

"It takes at least two years to figure out howto teach," says Norman M. Katz, an Expos teacherfrom 1985 to 1992 and now a writing instructor atCornell University's school of hoteladministration. "When I was teaching in my fifth,sixth and seventh years, I really knew what I wasdoing. In my first two years, I didn't know what Iwas doing at all."

"I don't think students are served by afour-year rule," says William C. Rice, asecond-year teacher in "Social and EthicalIssues," Expos 16. "I think students are served bypeople who are vital and deeply engaged in theirwork. If there's a four-year rule, people willwind up going out on the job market before theirtime is up."

While departments have limits on juniorfaculty, Expos teachers, who have the rank ofpreceptors, are much more limited than theircounterparts around the University.