Although he declines to indicate how long he plans to stay in Washington, few administrators remain for more than four years due to the enormous demands of working for the federal government.

Summers still points out that he has "emotional if not legal ties to Harvard University."

Federal appointees returning to academia cite the executive branch's exhausting pace and their desire to re-establish a family life as reasons for brief tenures in public service.

Political Departures

Although family and exhaustion often cause faculty members to leave their federal appointments, political friction frequently plays a major role.

This fall, after President Clinton signed the welfare reform bill ending the guarantee of cash assistance to many of the nation's poorest children, Mary Jo Bane, assistant secretary for families and children at the department of health and human services (HHS) and a former Weiner professor of social policy, abruptly submitted her resignation.

In an e-mail message sent to colleagues announcing her decision, Bane said the welfare bill had "led me to conclude that I can not continue to serve" as assistant secretary.

David T. Ellwood '75, Bane's colleague at both Harvard and HHS, left the Clinton Administration to become academic dean of the Kennedy School prior to passage of the bill.

Although Ellwood did not resign over political issues, he shares Bane's concerns.

"I certainly understand her decision," Ellwood says. "I, too, am very disappointed with the welfare bill."

After spending his time in Washington as assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at HHS, a position in which he focused on welfare reform, Ellwood says he has developed "misgivings" about government.

Asked whether the misgivings were rooted in the Clinton Administration's continued shift to the right or in Washington culture itself, Ellwood says it is "hard to separate them."

Following Clinton's re-election this month, Labor Secretary Robert Reich resigned, citing his desire to return to Cambridge to be with his two children. But some have speculated that the former Kennedy School professor is stepping down from his position for political reasons.

Many Washington insiders feel that, in an effort to appeal to a broader spectrum of voters, Clinton's administration has alienated traditional liberals such as Reich.

But most Kennedy School professors deny that Reich is getting forced out by the Administration's change of course.