No changes in Harvard's appointment process are under consideration at this point, according to Hoyte and Garber.

While some of the committee's proposals are generally right, faculty say, others reveal ignorance of how the tenure process works.

"They sure didn't ask us what we though would be useful," Kirshner says.

Goldin agrees.

"They don't seem to know all that much about the University," she says.

Several professors defended departments' traditional right to make tenure decisions without punishment from above.

"Creating a bunch of rules which you slap on departments isn't very effective," Skocpol says. "It creates a bad relationship."

"I think people in departments know best," says Professor of Chemistry Cynthia M. Friend.

Several say that putting such overwhelming weight on the sex of a candidate could sacrifice quality.

"You have to be careful not to make chromosomes the criteria for appointments," Kirshner says.

But other suggestions from the report would be effective, professors say, though Radcliffe has little power to enforce them.

Allocating additional resources for the recruitment and hiring of women is important, professors say.

"If you have an important woman scholar you should do your best to get her," Friend says.

"It's all a question of motion from the departments," Georgi says. "If there were more financial rewards maybe they would work at it harder."

The alumnae committee's suggestion that departments be encouraged to consider more junior faculty for tenure also drew praise from several faculty members.