Calling the accusations a "crock," John Donahue, a long-time friend of Reich and a Kennedy School professor, argues that a secretary of labor can not at the same time run a family.

Faculty members currently in the administration tend to deny that Clinton has changed his course.

Summers says that throughout his years at the treasury department, the Clinton Administration has been concerned with "making government a more effective tool in people's lives."

Responding to criticism that Harvard faculty are often too liberal to be effective in policy making positions, Donahue points out that faculty members returning to Cambridge do not share a particular political leaning.

"The people coming back cover a lot of terrain on the liberal to conservative spectrum," he says.

All the Better For It

Regardless of the circumstances of their departure, most faculty say they feel their experiences in Washington have raised their level of teaching to a new plateau.

"I can't believe they let me teach at the Kennedy School before [working in the administration]," says Donahue, who worked for the department of labor in the Clinton administration.

Faculty members such as Cutler have also realized the power of the media as a result of their Washington experiences.

"They are much more appreciative of the power of press and television to fashion a public policy issue," explains Marvin L. Kalb, director of the Shorenstein Center for Press and Public Policy.

Kalb suggests that while faculty may understand the theoretical aspects of the media, their work in Washington is a crash course in the practical power of television, radio and the press.

Future Appointments

Although few expect any prominent appointments to Clinton's second administration to come from Harvard, no one would be surprised by junior faculty members appointed to lower-level posts.

Sources also say that Laura D'Andrea Tyson, the outgoing Chair of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, was sought by the business school. However, it now appears that she will return to her former position at the University of California-Berkeley.

Even if Tyson does not defect, Harvard may be a much stronger place as policy entrepreneurs return from Washington to resume the roles of teachers, researchers, administrators and scholars.