Though his actual influence may be minimal, some professors have suggested that by simply increasing the frequency of ad-hoc meetings, Summers would send a symbolic message that new appointments are high on the presidential priority list.

But the new president's pronouncements would probably have a greater effect on the second component of the plan he proposed to the search committee: increasing odds for internal promotion.

University Hall officials say that in addition to ensuring that Harvard attracts and retains top talent, tenure offers to current junior faculty typically have a much higher rate of success than those to external candidates.

"If we promoted more from within, the yields would be much better," says one dean. "The context is changing for juniors. We're promoting more and the environment is better. Recruiting internal and external candidates is very different. [Internal ones] are already settled."

And though tenuring internal candidates does not increase the size of the faculty, it does shift the burden of the search process onto junior appointments, which are typically easier to make.

On this front, Summers could put public pressure on FAS to grant tenure to its premier junior faculty, even if he himself is not responsible for extending the offers.

"He could...lead on this issue," Pedersen wrote in an e-mail, "by urging all of us to try to move more quickly and to seek to make appointments (when possible) through internal promotion."

Former Dean of the Faculty and Geyser University Professor Emeritus Henry Rosovsky also points out that Summers could use his national repute and the prestige of his post to lure wavering candidates to the University.