THE COSTS OF THE LURE

For players like these, it takes more than the Harvard name to beat but sweet deals offered by rival universities.

When Afro-American Studies Department Chair HENRY LOUIS GATES JR. was teaching at Cornell University, he was aggressively recruited by both Princeton and Duke. After a long courtship, the Afro-American literature specialist made the move to Duke. But a year later, dissatisfied by the atmosphere in Durham, Gates made the jump again, this time to Harvard.

ALLAN M. BRANDT, a history of science professor, was offered a lifetime post by Harvard early in 1991 while he was teaching at the University of North Carolina. In order to lure Brandt to Cambridge, Harvard had to agree to give him more power to build a stronger program in the history of medicine and demonstrate its commitment to the field by agreeing to fund a junior faculty position.

Stanton Professor of the First Amendment FREDERICK SCHAUER is one professor who did decide to accept a Harvard offer, and has just finished his second year at the Kennedy School. An academic professional, his wife, Virginia J. Wise, now a lecturer on law and legal research at the Kennedy School had to figure into any move he made. And he was unlikely to make any move at all unless there was a job opportunity for her.

Incoming Dean of the Graduate School of Education LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND took her name out of consideration for the position after being offered it because her husband did not have a job at Harvard. She later accepted the job after he was offered a lectureship at the Kennedy School of Government.

Dean of the Faculty JEREMY R. KNOWLES: "I myself would not be here if someone had first asked me if I was interested in coming." Knowles says recruitment can escalate into a kind of "Star Wars" with other universities. "We are at the moment doing quite well, but it is true, in the past few years, but it is true, in the past few years, that other institutions have been more aggressive and have learned to be come more flexible in the weapons they use."