"It's a loss academically, but it's also a losssocially for us because it's certainly to theadvantage of not just non-straight students butall students that there be visible out facultymembers," she said.

The chair of the English department alsoregretted Miller's leaving.

"It's a very big loss," said Damrosch."Graduate students in particular have come thereto work with him. He's a very bright guy."

Damrosch added, however, that Miller was notbrought to Harvard because of his work in thefield of gay and lesbian studies.

"He was the product of a search for someone innineteenth-century and modern fiction," Damroschsaid. "People who knew him undoubtedly knew thathe was interested in gay studies, but it wasn't aquestion of recruiting him to do that.Increasingly, his courses have expressed thatinterest, but that has been a completely personaldecision."

A colleague of Miller's in the EnglishDepartment said his leaving would seriously affectthe areas of study at Harvard.

"I think it will have a very dramatic effect onliterary studies and gay studies," said Barbara E.Johnson, professor of English and comparativeliterature. "I think David is a unique,extraordinarily talented interpreter ofliterature. I think it's really too bad.