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Bright young PhDs grinding through research may no longer see Harvard as the light at the end of the tunnel. As a result of the economic downturn, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has cut its number of faculty searches from 50 to 21. We understand that in this difficult financial climate sacrifices need to be made. Nevertheless, impeding the College’s flow of intellectual resources is an unwise compromise.

Harvard’s policy stands in contrast to some of its peer schools, notably Princeton and Yale, which are maintaining previous hiring levels. Harvard stands to lose talent to these schools, as young academics begin tenure tracks at other universities. There is no guarantee that these professors will be able or willing to move to Harvard later in their careers.

Harvard should instead take advantage of this bearish market to hire even more professors. This would be a smart investment, as the competition for sought-after talent is particularly diminished this season.

Additionally, cutting down on new hires, along with constrictions on visiting faculty, creates a dangerous combination that threatens to impoverish the undergraduate educational experience. FAS is limiting the number of visiting professors next year; the economics department will have only two or three, compared to the 15 it has in the current year. Visiting professors often patch up a department’s curricular weaknesses, and their relative absence will likely deplete the College’s course offerings for undergraduates. Given the comparative lack of faculty, students will be faced with the dismaying prospect of fewer seminars and bigger Core and Gen Ed classes next year.

Moreover, regardless of the long-term budget concerns, students now still need to be taught. Harvard’s course offerings already fall short in many areas, and the hiring slowdown means departments across the College must wait further to fill their teaching gaps. The Economics Department is now searching for only one junior faculty member instead of two, the Classics Department cannot fill an intellectual vacancy in Greek history, and the East Asian Languages and Civilizations Department will not be hiring a pre-modern Japanese history professor.

Though these departments may batten down the hatches until the economic turmoil passes, the undergraduates currently interested in these fields cannot put their education on hold until the endowment climbs. The undergraduate experience is on a time limit, and each year that Harvard does not maintain its intellectual offerings is a year many students irrevocably lose out.

Much of Harvard’s financial strength comes from its intellectual strength. Hiring fresh academic minds is an essential component of both. Continuing to hire could, in fact, be considered Harvard’s role in fighting the economic downturn.