"I haven't taken a class in American Government besides Gov 30 [Government 30, "Introduction to American Government"] because there just isn't anything offered that I want to take," says Anna B. Benvenutti '00, another American government enthusiast. "I find myself taking more American history classes."

"You have a 55-person department, and only three senior and three junior professors in American [government]," says Morris P. Fiorina, who left his chairship as Thomson professor of government last year to accept a tenured post at Stanford University. "It takes a crisis and the American program is close to that."

What is more, two of the three tenured Americanists hold outside appointments. Pforzheimer University Professor Sidney Verba '53 doubles as the University librarian, and Skocpol is also a member of the Sociology Department.

The scarcity of American government professors means critical areas in the study of politics have no one to cover them.

Peterson says the department "could use greater strength" in the study of judicial institutions.

Skocpol points to Constitutional law, where there has not been a senior member of the department in over a decade. Petersoncalls it "a legitimate criticism."

In past years, says Rogers M. Smith, aprofessor of political science at Yale Universityand former Harvard Government graduate student,the American program has been strong.

Though Smith cautions that the days ofKissinger brought more celebrity than enduringscholarship, he says the department gained muchdistinction during the 1980s with Verba at thehelm. But the current curricular holes and athinly-staffed Faculty are undermining much ofthat prestige.

Simply put, of the basic approaches to thestudy of American politics--the rational choicemethodology, the historical and institutionalapproach and the study of voting behavior--Harvardis not considered the best in any of the three.

Stanford is the acknowledged leader in rationalchoice, Yale in the historical and institutionalapproach and the University of Michigan tops thelist when it comes to voting behavior.

As students become more familiar with thedepartment over the course of their undergraduatecareers, some say their admiration lessens.

"It definitely feels like the department isgoing downhill," Benvenutti says.

Some scholars at Harvard defend the department,arguing that the dominance of other schools stemsfrom over-specialization. Nonetheless, for atop-ranked department to content itself withsecond- or even third-best in all of the basicapproaches to one of the major fields seems like amindset that is unlikely to bring much in the wayof improvements.

Moreover, as departmental prestige declines, sotoo does the quality of graduate students, whichhas an obvious impact on students at the Collegewho are often taught and advised by doctoralcandidates.

"We'll do better in attracting the top Americangraduate students when we have more people,"Skocpol says, adding that admissions to thedepartment's graduate program are stillcompetitive.

She says also that Harvard allocates relativelyless funding for graduate students, which puts theUniversity "way behind" more generous schools.