Harvard Business School rejected a tenure bid from Benjamin Edelman despite faculty acknowledgments of his scholarly record and teaching, according to deposition testimony and documents in Edelman’s lawsuit. The school’s administration said the decision turned on its opaque "community standards" criterion rather than intellectual merit. Former Dean Nitin Nohria testified that Edelman met Harvard’s intellectual and teaching benchmarks, but that concerns about community fit led to denial. The case has erupted into litigation, producing extensive internal records now before a Massachusetts Superior Court judge reviewing motions for summary judgment. The dispute underscores rising legal and reputational risks when faculty tenure decisions are framed partly by nebulous institutional standards. Other universities will watch the court’s handling of claims about fairness and academic governance; the outcome could influence how peer reviewers and administrators document tenure rationales going forward.