Berger said that Harvard’s music department and a Harvard dean had unanimously approved his tenure.

“I understand that my case went all the way to the president and was decided on a presidential level,” he said.

University officials declined to comment on the specifics of tenure cases.

Berger believes that implementing “any [tenure] policy in a mechanical way” will work to Harvard’s disadvantage.

“Until recently Harvard was in very enviable position of being able to skim the cream from the best academic departments internationally by making late appointments,” he said.

A change in policy would put other schools in a better position to compete for older talent, he added.

Harvard has recently tenured two professors, who will begin teaching in the spring. Charles Langmuir, 51, of Columbia University, will join the department of earth and planetary sciences. Vahid Tarokh, from MIT, will join the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Tarokh declined to comment or provide his age. Langmuir said he was approved for tenure during President Neil L. Rudenstine’s administration.

—Kate L. Rakoczy and David H. Gellis contributed to the reporting of this article.