Brinkley Tenure Bid Ends Unsuccessfully

Dunwalke Associate Professor of American History Alan Brinkley, whose modern American history courses are among Harvard's most popular classes, was denied tenure last week.

Brinkley will remain here until the end of the year, when his contract expires. Brinkley said that his plans for next year remain uncertain.

Although Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences A. Michael Spence has outlined a plan to tenure more of Harvard's junior faculty members, the denial of tenure to Brinkley comes after two other prominent junior professors recently learned they were denied tenure.

At a time when competition for America's top minds has increased, Spence's initiative seeks to decrease Harvard's traditional reliance on scholars who have proven themselves at other universities. Some professors said the tenure denials call into question the faculty's commitment to Spence's plan.

Brinkley, who said he learned of his failure to gain tenure late last week, routinely earned CUE Guide ratings close to the top of the scale for teaching. This spring he is scheduled to teach History 1628, "America Since 1945: 'The American Century,'" consistently one of the most popular undergraduate courses.

He currently is teaching History 1626, "America, 1890-1918: The Progressive Era," and History 1629, "The South Since Reconstruction."

Brinkley's first book, "Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression," won the American Book Award for history in 1983. He said he currently is preparing a second book on the transformation of New Deal liberalism during the 1930s and 1940s.

A former part-time editor of The Atlantic Monthly, Brinkley also has published numerous book reviews and magazine pieces.

According to faculty members in the History Department who asked to remain anonymous, Brinkley received the endorsement of his department, with several prominent senior professors dissenting. Dean Spence, the faculty members said, halted Brinkley's tenure review since the dean felt the minority opposition wouldeventually prove detrimental to a young scholar inthe multi-staged tenure process.

Some faculty members said Brinkley's strongprofessional reputation and reputation as anaccomplished teacher made his review an early testof the University's commitment to a recentlyannounced faculty plan that aims to increase thenumber of junior faculty receiving tenure.

"The new plan is about giving people likeProfessor Brinkley a chance," said a HistoryDepartment member close to the review, who spokeon condition that he not be identified.

"He's someone where there's enough evidence toknow he's going to be very good and who hasdistinguished himself as a teacher," thedepartment member said.

"I thought the new [tenure] policy would changethe situation enough so that [a luke-warmdepartment endorsement] would not carry the samestigma for a young [tenure] candidate that it didin the past," said a faculty member, who spoke onthe condition that he not be identified.

Brinkley was lured from MIT four years ago tooccupy one of Harvard's only endowed juniorchairs. the faculty initiative calls forincreasing the number of such chairs for promisingyoung scholars.

Brinkley's tenure denial was the second for aHistory Department member in less than fourmonths. Associate Professor of History Bradford A.Lee, who like Brinkley is an expert on20th-century American history and a highlyregarded teacher, failed to win a lifetime postearly last summer.

Last week's denial came despite what onefaculty member called a History Departmentrecommendation that was "minorly in [Brinkley's]favor."

History Department Chairman and Dumbarton OaksProfessor of Byzantine History Angeliki E. Laioudeclined to comment on Brinkley's case.

More Problems

The decision on Brinkley comes in the wake offaculty criticism of President Derek C. Bok'srecent failure to act on the tenure nomination ofAssociate Professor of English Robert N. Waston.Professors in the English Department gave Watson'stenure bid their unanimous support.

Professor of English and comparative LiteratureWalter Kaiser '54 condemned the president'sfailure to act before 500 students attending alecture in Literature and Arts A-40a,"Shakespeare." Bok's failure to endorse Watson had"effectively repudiated" the new tenureinitiative, Kaiser later said.

In addition to departmental endorsements,junior faculty members must gain the approval ofan ad hoc committee of scholars in their field andultimately Bok in order to win lifetime posts.

But Brinkley's review never made it to thelater stages, the faculty member said. He saidthat Spence decided not to convene an ad hoccommittee after Brinkley's detractors sent thedean letters outlining their objections totenuring the associate professor.

At the crux of their criticism was the volumeof Brinkley's scholarly work, which--whileimpressive for an historian his age--is less thanthat generally expected of successful candidatesfor tenure in the History Department, the facultymember said.

The faculty member said that Spence's decisionto halt Brinkley's review after the luke-warmdepartment approval was due to the dean's concernthat with such a weak recommendation a youngscholar would not successfully complete the tenureprocess.

"He was making a political judgement about whatwould happen in the future," the faculty membersaid.

Spence was unavailable for comment yesterday,but has said in the past that it is too early forhis plan to have any concrete effect on the tenureprocess