"I cannot comment on individual cases," he said. "I treat them all with the same kind of care and come to a conclusion based on all the evidence and all the testimony and my own evaluation of what I see."

The correspondence between Rudenstine and the senior female faculty members initiated a flurry of protest letters to the president.

Undergraduates, graduate students and junior Faculty members joined the 15 women in sending letters to Rudenstine. In a related protest, several economics professors composed a private letter to Rudenstine "expressing dismay" at the possibility of losing Honig's husband, Professor of Economics Michael D. Whinston, who has also been offered a position at Northwestern.

Whinston is one of only two industrial organization specialists on Harvard's faculty.

"I shudder to think at the prospect of his leaving," said Professor of Economics Eric S. Maskin.

Charges of Impropriety

Further complicating the denials of tenure to both Honig and Associate Professor of Government Peter Berkowitz are allegations of procedural improprieties in decisions.

In a letter addressed to Associate Provost Dennis S. Thompson but sent to Rudenstine and other top political theorists, Johns Hopkins University Chair of Political Science William E. Connolly, who was once Honig's academic advisor, wonders aloud whether "back-channel communications" unduly influenced the decision on Honig's tenure.

Both Honig and Berkowitz were supported by their respective departmental committees and each was endorsed by senior Faculty members in a department-wide vote.

Various sources have confirmed that between two-thirds and three-quarters of the government department faculty supported the Honig nomination and that four of the five professors on the ad hoc committee supported her.

Berkowitz, unlike Honig, was not recommended by his ad hoc committee, the final stage before Rudenstine makes his decision.

The ad hoc committee is composed of two to three members from other Harvard departments and three specialists in the field from other universities. Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles oversees the selection of all ad hoc committees.

One source characterized Berkowitz's committee as openly "hostile" to the candidate, suggesting that foul play had occurred in the selection of the committee's members.

The Honig case has been surrounded by allegations of procedural improprieties as well, centering on a perceived contradiction in the statements of Princeton Dean of Faculty Amy Gutmann.

Recently asked to review a manuscript by Honig that was submitted to Princeton University Press, Gutmann gave a generally favorable recommendation of the book--which was accepted for publication--but did not express commensurate support for Honig's tenure nomination in a recommendation to Harvard. Though the two positions are not mutually exclusive, some speculated that outside influence altered her opinion of Honig.