Advertising in professional journals, another source of applicant names, can also miss minority applicants, some scholars say. The sometimes exclusive connotations of the Harvard name, and the low numbers of minority faculty in the FAS, send a message to minority applicants which can be overcome only by strong University encouragement, Tate says.

"It doesn't have a good reputation," she says. "I think a lot of minorities don't know what life is like at Harvard, so they just assume."

Both Tate, who arrived in 1988, and Harper, who arrived last year, recall strong recruitment efforts from their department chairs. Both got personal phone calls from the chairs of their departments asking them to apply, and neither had considered coming to Harvard before.

But if the chairs of some departments make such efforts, not all are necessarily so active. How strong a push a department makes depends on the department, not necessarily on central affirmative action authorities.

"I...do stress with each department the high desirability of seeking out minority appointments as part of our overall goal of excellence," Garber says. "All I can do is actively encourage them. It depends very much on the department."

McCarthy says one most assume that "efforts vary in all areas. Some departments have been particularly imaginative and energetic for a long time."

Tate concedes that some Harvard departments "have reputations for not being sup portive for minority scholars." She has no answer to the problem she says but it cannot be ignored.

"What I'm critical of is the fact that it's 1993, I don't really see much change, and that's depressing," she says.