Berkowitz Sues Harvard Over Tenure Decision

Former Associate Professor of Government Peter Berkowitz filed a lawsuit against Harvard on Friday, charging that his application for tenure and subsequent appeal were mishandled.

The lawsuit claims Harvard failed to follow its own grievance procedures because it did not form an ad hoc grievance panel to review Berkowitz's tenure appeal after he filed a complaint.

The University's docket committee refused to form the panel because it dismissed his claim as "clearly without merit."

In his lawsuit, Berkowitz asks that the courts order Harvard to form such a panel. Berkowitz also claims the court should award monetary damages against Harvard for breaching an implied contract with Berkowitz and breaching its common law duty to observe substantially its own rules.

Harvard General Counsel Anne Taylor confirmed yesterday that the University had received a copy of the complaint.

She declined to discuss Berkowitz's allegations, citing Harvard's policy of not discussing any suit currently under litigation.

"We do not believe it has merit, but beyond that we have no comment," she said.

Berkowitz and his Washington, D.C. lawyer Maureen F. Del Duca also declined to comment on the pending litigation.

But Government Department Chair Roderick MacFarquhar said he regarded the complaint as misguided.

"I was and am a friend of Peter's and I have had off dealings with him and I'm sorry he feels he has to take this step," said MacFarquhar, who is also Williams professor of history and political science.

The lawsuit follows over two years of internal appeals to the denial of Berkowitz's tenure in 1997.

In 1996, a government department committee recommended that the university tenure Berkowitz. But President Neil L. Rudenstine denied the junior professor tenure after considering the recommendations of an ad hoc committee.

Berkowitz claims "bias and conflict of interest" on the part of several ad hoc committee members made the review process unfair and violated Harvard's own internal guidelines.

A Middlesex County Court clerk said it will likely be several years before a trial is held. Berkowitz has requested that a jury hear the case.

Harvard must file an answer to Berkowitz's complaint within 20 days.

Berkowitz, whose most recent book is Virtue and the Making of Modern Liberalism, is now a professor at George Mason University Law School in Arlington, Va.