According to some, Harvard's storied reticence to promote from within only serves to decrease the junior Faculty's willingness to sacrifice professional growth for fair Harvard.

"Some people ask why they should work for the institution if it's not going to benefit them in any way," says Beckert.

Beckert, who is active on history departmental committees, says that many of his junior Faculty colleagues avoid the boardroom. The thankless work of the committee simply doesn't help get tenure.

"Nobody cares if you were on a committee at Harvard when you apply for a job somewhere else," Beckert says. "It might also be a liability within [Harvard]."

Beckert notes that no Harvard junior Faculty member has been promoted in American History since 1957. When he joined the department two and half years ago, there were four junior Faculty members who outranked him. He's now the most senior of the junior Faculty in his discipline.

And senior Faculty members say they recognize their juniors' reluctance to serve.

"We try to protect the junior Faculty. They're usually not on University-wide committees," says Vendler.