Perspectives on Masten Tenure Denial

Being safely situated out-side Harvard, I feel at liberty to comment on a couple of suggestions made by English department chair Leo Damrosch in regard to the University's recent failure to tenure Prof. Jeffrey Masten. According to the Crimson's Dec. 10 article on the case, Damrosch speculates that Harvard must stint on granting tenure to English literature Faculty because the department is small, presumably meaning that it can accommodate only a choice few in its senior ranks. I have heard this argument before, and I am as bemused by it now as I was when I was on the Harvard Faculty. Indeed, it seems quite likely that, rather than being prevented from regularly tenuring Faculty because it is so small, the department is so small, because it hardly ever awards tenure. Demrosch's proposition implies that the English department suffers an absolute constraint on its size that has been imposed by the administration; this may be so, but my fellow junior Faculty and I certainly never saw any evidence of such a constraint during the early 1990's. What we did see was a Faculty that regularly demurred at conferring tenure even on remark-ably well-qualified senior scholars at other institutions who were reviewed for possible appointment at Harvard--a practice that resulted in the department's preserving its small size even when it had clearly been authorized by the administration to recruit additional tenured Faculty.

Damrosch further suggests that Harvard cannot take the chance of tenuring someone of Jeff Masten's relatively young age, but it seems to me entirely debatable which constitutes the greater risk in a lifetime appointment: the young but widely respected scholar who shows ever indication of continued intellectual growth over the long term, or the scholar recognized as a mature authority in a given field who resists new modes of working in or thinking about that field. Harvard does boast a number of senior Faculty who continue to be vital and innovative in their teaching and scholarship. Nevertheless, its anomalous and increasingly laughable tenuring procedures also make it a haven for the latter type of scholar described above, a critical mass of whom generally thwart the appointment of the former type. Until this situation changes--a prospect about which I remain highly doubtful--any talented younger scholar with a viable alternative would be well advised to decline a junior Faculty appointment at Harvard; for as far as moral support, professional development and intellectual nurturance for junior Faculty are concerned, there is no "there" there, and there probably never will be. --Phillip Brian Harper   Associate Professor of English   New York University

I have some historical perspective on the controversy surrounding English professor Jeffrey Masten's denial of tenure which may interest others in our community:

When I was a first-year here during the 1986-87 school year, a very popular and well-respected history professor named Alan Brinkley was denied tenure. Professor Brinkley had a distinguished scholarly record, appeared to be generally well-liked by his colleagues and was adored by his students. Many of these students were understandably upset; letters were written to the Crimson and to then-University president Derek C. Bok, and I'm sure at least a petition or two was circulated. In the end, another university snatched up Alan Brinkley (Columbia or Princeton, I think), and a semester or two later, no doubt, another aspiring young star arrived at the History department.

In both my undergraduate and graduate years here at Harvard, I have seen many changes in the English department. Two senior Faculty that I can remember have left, one to enjoy his retirement. The junior Faculty I have seen come and go, on the other hand, make up a very long list. Now, some of the people who have meant the most to me both personally and professionally are scattered quite literally across the country, from New York to Michigan, Ohio and California. Not all of them were denied tenure; some of them wished to leave before undergoing what appeared, and still appears, to be a futile process. Neither the administration nor individual department Faculty have any incentive to change this situation. Every year, another thousand or so of the best and brightest first-years arrive here in September; another group of talented young Faculty arrive here to teach; and another round of fundraising solicits astonishing sums from nostalgic alumni. Let me make my standing here clear: these astonishing sums pay the way for many of us, and I am very much implicated in this University's go-round of persons and things, as I expect to receive my third Harvard degree in June. My point here is this: very few people say "no" to Harvard. No one is going to withhold their check because a junior professor has to leave. Only if this situation began to change, would scholars like Jeffrey Masten have the chance to continue to grace Harvard with their talents.   --Maria C. Sanchez '90, M.A. '93   TF and Tutor in English