Students holding out for the genuine Historical Studies A-12 experience better give up now.

To the surprise of no one, Rabb Professor of Government Joseph S. Nye Jr. was yesterday confirmed as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs.

Nye will immediately take on the duties of his new job. He is responsible for crafting policy on all regional security issues, including American involvement with Bosnia, Somalia, Haiti and other hot spots.

"Of course one hesitates to give up a position on the faculty at Harvard because that is a fascinating job," Nye said in an interview last week. "But government work is also fascinating, especially given the uncertainties we face today and the immediacy of the problems I've been dealing with."

The immensely popular professor, perhaps best known for the History A core on "International Conflict in the Modern World," left Harvard in early 1993 to become chair of the CIA's National Intelligence Council.

Nye, once a serious contender for both Harvard's presidency and the deanship of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, was expected to return from a two-year leave of absence by spring semester of this year.

But he must now resign because University policy prevents tenured professors from being off campus doing non-University work for more than two years.

Nye's loss will hit the Government department hard.

"Joe Nye is an important teacher in an important field," said Pforzheimer University Professor Sidney Verba '53 in an interview last night. "He's hard to lose, but he's going into an absolutely crucial job and that's wonderful."

In 1993 the confidential guide to courses described Nye as "godfather and possessor of the most dedicated cult of personality since Mao."

"It's a tremendous loss to undergraduates," said Professor of Government Kenneth A. Shepsle. "It will be very hard to find people who will teach at Joe's very high standards."

Now A-12 will be taught by Associate Professor of Government Stephen Peter Rosen and Assistant Professor of Government Andrew Moravcsik. Government department chair Susan J. Pharr said the team will likely keep the course in the future.

When Nye last led the class in the fall 1992 he received an unusually high CUE Guide rating of 4.7 out of 5, and the course's enrollment peaked at 595.

But the number of students dropped to 202 last year when Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France Stanley Hoffman and Assistant Professor of Government J. Lawrence Broz co-taught the course.

Nye can apply for re-appointment anytime, however.

And if Pharr has her way, the intelligence expert will be back as soon as he wishes.

"It's certainly never automatic that a professor who has relinquished tenure will be invited to return, but considering what a superb, outstanding scholar Professor Nye is, I personally would strongly support him," Pharr said.

Nye has been away before, but he's always come home. Between 1977 and 1979, for example, Nye served as deputy under-secretary of state under President Jimmy Carter. He also chaired the National Security Group on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Margaret Isa contributed to the reporting of this story.