"Stanford has been trying to make big raids," MacFarquhar told The Crimson in an earlier interview.

"We have to guard against those sorts of moves," adds MacFarquhar, who also chairs the department.

One college official recalls the Stanford of the 1960s, which cobbled together an outstanding history department from the faculties of the East Coast Ivy Leagues.

"They have a history of doing this," the official says.

According to history professor David Blackbourn, the Harvard-Yale rivalry over faculty is no longer as exclusive.

"It certainly seems to me that there's no longer any very meaningful sense in which the two schools go head to head," he says. "The days of Harvard-Yale narrowly conceived are definitely gone."

As acting chair of the history department last year, Blackbourn twice competed with Stanford to recruit faculty. Once, Harvard won out. But another faculty member ended up going to Stanford.

"Stanford is definitely on our radar screen when it comes to these issues of recruitment," Blackbourn says.