These "aggressive steps" include hiring 10additional faculty members as well as increaseddirect grants for Faculty research.
"Lately, Stanford has been very inviting forsome subfields, most notably Americanists," Bellinsays.
Her colleagues say that while Harvard'ssalaries are still high and its research supportstill formidable, the University has lost acushion of prestige which might previously haveinsulated it from the need to engage in biddingwars with aggressive competitors.
"There may have been a time when Harvard couldattract people with prestige, but that time islong since past," Frieden says.
And while no one says Harvard's academicprestige is in danger of real attrition for themoment, the loss of any Faculty member cannot helpbut chip away at the world's most prestigiousschool.
"The University is entirely the people thatmake it up," Frieden says.