"I am not against these ideas--if we approach them analytically in terms of the deployment of our resources," Lewis wrote in an e-mail message. "I haven't heard anyone say lately that the undergraduate college which is our core business has a surplus of faculty time unused by our undergraduates, so I am very cautious about exciting ideas for other ways our faculty could be spending their time."

He said any new business proposal for Harvard--"especially under terms that Harvard will not be able to control by itself"--requires scrutiny and extensive faculty consideration.

"I am glad that [President Neil L. Rudenstine] has not leapfrogged that sort of careful deliberation by the faculty by binding Harvard to any consortial arrangement without due consideration," he wrote.

The idea for a distance learning consortium stems from a Yale Corporation visit to Stanford's campus this past fall, when Yale University President Richard C. Levin talked to Stanford University President Gerhard Casper, the source said.

The Yale Corporation, like the Harvard Corporation, is the highest governing board of its university.

The source said that about a week ago, "Harvard was on the fence."

According to the source, 15 to 20 faculty members and administrators from Yale met to discuss the initiative last week at the request of that university's provost, Alison F. Richard.