“Once you’re on, it breeds even more appearances,” Wrinn said.

Media interest in Kennedy School professors soared in the days leading up to the war in Iraq and remains well above average, according to Jesus Mena, the school’s director of communications. But the attention has decreased slightly in recent days, he said.

“The level of participation was a lot higher prior to the war, in large part because this is a school of public policy,” he said. “Since the war has actually started, the volume has begun to taper off—we are not a military institution.”

And some experts across the University seeking more than a sound byte have written op-eds for national newspapers. Nye and former KSG Dean Graham T. Allison each published op-eds in The Boston Globe this week alone.

And professors running the gamut from war hawk to peacenik have continued to sound off since the war began—ranging from retired Brig. Gen. John Reppert, executive director for research at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, to Lecturer on History and Literature Timothy P. McCarthy ’93. Reppert advocates stronger military action in Iraq, while McCarthy is a vocal opponent of the war.

Glickman said the media continue to seek KSG professors interpretations to offset government spin.

“I think there an awful lot of people in the world of journalism looking for a broader base of thinkers [than the Bush administration],” he said.

—Staff writer Stephen M. Marks can be reached at marks@fas.harvard.edu.