As the younger generations of scholars also tend to be more diverse in terms of race and gender, the argument follows, Harvard's statistics look worse than they actually are.

However, the "pipeline argument" has been attacked by many, notably the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, which published an article last autumn titled, "A Note on Racial Diversity of the Faculty of Harvard University."

"There are tens of thousands of black scholars currently teaching in colleges and universities in the United States and thousands more at universities is Canada, Europe and Africa," the Journal writes. "Surely a few handfuls of these scholars could meet Harvard's standards of academic quality and distinction."

Peggy Schmertzler '53, who heads the Committee for the Equality of Women at Harvard, says Harvard's system of tenuring professors--finding that handful--deserves a critical examination.

"There's all kinds of research which shows that peer review and secret meetings and very unique procedures tend to maintain the status quo," she says.

"Peer review is very biased against minorities and Harvard is very committed to it's present tenure process, but most people on the outside think that the process should be much less secretive," she adds.

Prothrow-Stith, however, is hesitant to critique the process, except by saying that "the proof is in the pudding."

"The current process suggests that there are some other things that we need to do in order to increase the numbers," she says. "I hope you are able to hear my desire to not critique what has happened, except by looking at the outcomes, because I don't know what has happened."

Those other things include the nurturing of doctoral, post-doctoral and assistant professors, what Prothrow-Stith calls "young talent," which she says is occuring at SPH.

Prothrow-Stith says the burden of being one of very few black female professors at Harvard is that she frequently is called upon to present a "diverse perspective" on various committees and panels. She said that the low numbers of black females make it "hard to gain critical mass."

Beyond Af-Am

McKay, a graduate student at Harvard in the late '70s, said it was "very difficult" not having female professors, much less black female professors, as role models and teachers.

"If students have professors that they can identify with they have an exemplar, not just a role model," says Schmertzler. "It shows them what's possible, and where they can go at Harvard."

Gates, who took a sabbatical from his duties as chair of the Afro-American studies department this semester, underscores this view.

"The principal value first is to be a role model for our students and second to bring their unique perspectives to a faculty that is, by definition, primarily white and male," he says.