The Tenure Denial

By all accounts, Berkowitz was a controversial tenure candidate from the beginning.

At Harvard he was known as a conservative voice among his liberal colleagues, and he had become associated with an outspoken Straussian and conservative in the department, Keenan Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield Jr. '53.

When Markham Professor of Government Kenneth A. Shepsle, then chair of the government department, approached him about pursuing tenure in July 1996,Berkowitz said he believed he "had a fightingchance," though he recognized there would besignificant opposition.

Berkowitz had been teaching at Harvard for sixyears, the standard term before a junior professoris considered for tenure.

According to Rosovsky, who devoted a chapter ofhis 1990 book The University: An Owner'sManual to Harvard's procedure for tenurereview, the process begins at the departmentallevel with an "executive committee" of tenuredfaculty.

These professors compile a list of possiblecandidates for promotion and then send out a"blind letter" to colleagues worldwide, requestingfeedback on the merits of those underconsideration.

On the basis of responses to the blind letterand personal opinions about the candidates, thedepartment then votes to endorse one of them forfurther tenure consideration.

According to a number of government professors,Berkowitz was endorsed by a majority of thedepartment. He was not, however, endorsedunanimously.

At this stage, the tenure decision moves to thedean's office: "The dean and his principalacademic advisors study the candidate's file,"Rosovsky explains.

When the file has been approved, a tenuredFaculty member appointed by the dean of theFaculty convenes an ad hoc committee of fivescholars to consider the candidate. Theseacademics meet with the president to consider anappointment, and they hear testimony about thecandidate from both friendly and hostilewitnesses.

According to Rosovsky, although the invitationssent out to prospective ad hoc committeemembers--three experts in the candidate's fieldfrom outside the University and two generalistsfrom Harvard--bear the president's name, thepresident is not really involved in theirselection.

"It would be very rare for the president tomake any changes in the list of those invited toserve on the ad hoc committee," Rosovsky said.

But Jeffrey Hazard, a professor at theUniversity of Pennsylvania's law school and aspecialist in ethics, expressed a different senseof who is responsible for committee'sconstitution.

Hazard, who has served on a Harvard ad hoccommittee, said they "are convened by PresidentRudenstine, and he can invite whomever he wants."

Professor of Anthropology Peter T. Ellison, whowas in 1997 one of two associate deans appointedby Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles toconvene ad hoc tenure committees, was responsiblefor Berkowitz's committee. Ellison refused tocomment for this article; his choice of scholarsis one of Berkowitz's grievances.