In addition, Assistant Professor Barbara Clair Freeman was also scheduled to leave as her non-tenured contract expired. But, Freeman will continue at Harvard next year.

"We found ourselves rather depleted in course offerings [with the recent departures and planned leaves]," said Leo Damrosch, chair of the English department. "Barbara Freeman has been a very popular teacher and an excellent colleague and we were delighted when the Dean [of the Faculty] agreed that she might teach in our department for one more year."

Two of this year's departing junior faculty have accepted offers at other schools. Jackson will teach at the University of California at Berkeley and Jenkins will teach at Stanford. Jenkins' position at Stanford will be a tenure track one.

Jenkins admits the reason for his departure was his doubt that he would have received tenure at Harvard.

"As a young assistant professor, most people feel they don't have a long-term future," Jenkins said. "The job market is tough and you have to take a good offer when it comes up."

Damrosch expressed sadness at the departure of the junior faculty. He also said he understood their reasons for departure.

"It's pure and simple--Harvard is one of the few places where it's almost impossible to get tenure," Damrosch said.

Damrosch said he recognized that Harvard has a long record of not granting tenure to most junior faculty. He cited the difficulty in finding a job as the reason many junior faculty are not staying for their full appointment.

"There's more anxiety about tenure than there used to be," Damrosch said. "People used to say, `After my years at Harvard, I'll land on my feet.' but now if they have another option, they'll take the other option."

But tenure rates for junior faculty are improving. According to Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles' annual letter to the Faculty the tenure rate for junior faculty last year was 15 to 20 percent. This represents a slight increased chance in promotion.

But some believe the incentive is still too low.

"I think that [the low tenure rate] has discouraged junior faculty in the past, and, in the absence of reform, it will continue to do so," Masten said. "Junior faculty in English are departing more frequently and after much shorter stays than when I started at Harvard in 1991."

Many question the effects that the loss of so many young scholars will have on the English department.

Damrosch said due to the "diminished" number of junior faculty, the English department may be able to offer fewer courses next year.

These losses are also key to the English department, because they follow last year's highly-publicized departure of Masten.