Schama was one of the department's most prized assets--a best-selling author with an international reputation and one of the Faculty's most consistently popular professors. His departure widens a growing gap in many fields of European history and culture.

"We're losing a very gifted and unique person," says Ozment. "Schama gets the undergraduates' attention. He draws them from other concentrations."

Schama's interests span a wide range of historic, geographic and thematic areas of study, students and professors say. "There are few historians who move intellectually over as many subjects and parts of the world as Professor Schama has been able to do," says Professor of History James Hankins.

For the department, Schama's departure signals a greater urgency to fill four senior positions that have been empty for more than a year.

"In some ways, if it's one year, it won't make that much of a difference," says Womack. "But if he's leaving for good, it's a much bigger deal."

Schama's History Department colleagues express the hope that Schama will return after only a short stay at Columbia--chances for which are "slim," in Ozment's words.

With this in mind, Schama was given permission for a one year leave of absence, a right Ozment says is granted to all faculty members who are on the verge of resigning.

"I hope that it [Columbia] is not the place for him," Ozment says. "It's unusual for faculty to go and come...but it's nice to hold the door open. He's welcome should he want to come back."