"I am in support of the attempt by [Yale] to convert their program into a department. And every time I've been asked, I've said as much," he said.
Gates declined to respond to Stepto's charges.
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"I'm sure that Professor Stepto was
misquoted. I have no comment on that," Gates said.
After graduating from Yale in 1973, Gates lectured there from 1976 to 1979. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1979. In 1984, Cornell offered him tenure. Gates said he asked Yale to match the offer, and, in 1985, when they did not, he left for Ithaca. Though he spent his formative years in New Haven, Gates won't leave Harvard anytime soon, he said.
"Harvard is heaven," Gates said. "And I don't want to leave heaven."