Return of Sociologist Precipitates New Conflict

The return to Harvard this fall of Theda R. Skocpol, the sociologist who fought a four-year tenure battle and won a sex discrimination grievance against the University, has precipitated new conflict within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, professors said.

In interviews this week, faculty members said that Skocpol has alienated herself from other faculty members by publicly airing her differences with the University and pressing officials within the faculty to give her additional responsibilities.

Meanwhile, Skocpol said she has not been accorded the respect due her as a senior member of the faculty. Skocpol first expressed her sentiments in an article that appeared in last week's issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, a weekly education newspaper.

"We had hoped the controversy would end when she received tenure, but she has intensified it," said Professor of Sociology Orlando Patterson, who said he supported Skocpol's bid for a permanent appointment.

Another senior professor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Skocpol's "combative attitude" has posed "a great problem" for the department.

Professors condemned Skocpol's public perpetuation of the dispute in The Chronicle of Higher Education and criticized comments she made last month to the American Sociological Society.

During a speech to the group, Skocpol called her conflict with Harvard "a many-year game of chicken with the leaders of the most arrogant university in the Western World."

"Remarks of this kind are completely out of place. They destroy the community," said one senior department member who spoke on condition that he not be identified. "When one joins a university, one is supposed to join a community of scholars."

Skocpol's conflict with the University began in 1980, when she was denied tenure. She subsequently filed and won a grievance against Harvard charging that she had been a victim of sexual discrimination.

President Derek C. Bok offered Skocpol tenure, and she returned to Cambridge this year from the University of Chicago, where she had spent some of the intervening years as a full professor.

After accepting Bok's offer, Skocpol said, she requested and was denied an affiliation with Social Studies, a degree-granting program in which she advised students as a junior faculty member during the late 1970s.

Skocpol said this week that she was "just amazed" by a letter she received from David S. Landes, the chairman of the Social Studies program, in which Landes explained the reasons for his decision.

"You are coming into a depart- ment that voted against your appointment. Youhave been imposed upon it by a personal decisionof the President, an act that, to my knowledge, isunexampled in the modern history of this Faculty,"Landes wrote.

"You will have, therefore, many fences to mendbefore making a place for yourself. You will alsowant to prove yourself intellectually," Landescontinued. "Under the circumstances, it would beonly prudent not to undertake too much."

Quotations from the letter first appeared inThe Chronicle of Higher Education article.

Asked about the letter, Skocpol said, "It's notmy place to comment on that. The letter speaks foritself."

Landes criticized Skocpol's release of theletter as "one more stroke in her war of publicrelations."

"I deplore the publicizing of confidentialmatters of this kind because such publicitynecessarily makes the scholarly and intellectualwork of the University more rather than lessdifficult," Landes said.

"I therefore propose to say nothing other thanto respond to issues raised by Miss Skocpol,"Landes said.

Landes said his response to Skocpol waspresented out of context in The Chronicle becausehe denied her a position on the Social Studiessteering committee but said he would welcome herinvolvement in other capacities.

Landes said a portion of his letter not quotedin the article said: "We are delighted to knowthat we will count on your help and good will."

Skocpol refused to share the complete text ofthe Landes letter with The Crimson.

"There is very little more to the letter," shesaid.

"I think she should be focusing on her teachingand research in sociology instead of puttingherself foreward as a representative of the '60sgeneration or as the victim of hostility," Landessaid.

"It will take a little while for ProfessorSkocpol to have a full role in everything thatgoes on here because of the particular history ofthis thing," said Sociology Department ChairmanAage B. Sorensen. "There must be healing."

Asked how Skocpol's actions might affect thathealing, Sorenson said, "It might take longer orshorter for this to happen.