But some felt a panel discussion held at the IOP would have drawn more attention.

"I'm very sorry that it was moved," Waters said. "If it were held at the IOP, it would have had more of a profile."

Unlike many universities, Harvard hires most of its senior faculty from outside, where many have already established themselves in their fields, instead of promoting from within its own junior faculty.

"Though Harvard keeps asserting that there are not enough qualified women and minority scholars, we believe that they do exist," Song said. "But the question is how are the criteria set, who is setting them, and how hard is Harvard really trying?"

"The tenure process is so difficult with so many steps that outsiders have not way of gauging it," said Virginia S. Loo '96, a student advocates of tenuring more women and minority faculty. "There is no light onto the situation at all."

Waters said the panel wants to scrutinize Harvard's "blind letter" policy in its tenure process. Few of the experts who send in such letters are women or minorities, she said.

"There is interest in examining 'blind letters' as a potential for discrimination against women and minority faculty, not intentional discrimination," Waters said. "We want to understand how it actually works and not how it is designed on paper."

Organizers and participants see the panel as a possible springboard for action.

Waters said: "I very much hope that it is the beginning of political pressure to bear change on Harvard's policies."