westernpacific

Everywhere else, yes. But not at Harvard. Tenure comes with promotion to full.

A person made a mistake. It happens. Lessons should be learned and corrective actions should be taken.  Does focusing on the mistake get one closer to one's goal?
(Has the aggrieved applicant taken any action? If the aggrieved had been accepted been among those cc-ed in an email would the applicant have the same concerns?)
The comments I've offered may sting some, but they're not unkind. They're based upon experience in the Ivory Tower and in the private sector working on projects for private and public universities, as well as on this BB.
Graduate school is a competitive environment. There are going to be set backs. Sometimes your fellow graduate students will come at you. Sometimes professors will use you as chew toys. When you work as a T.A., some undergraduates will pounce on any mistake you make to question your qualifications to evaluate your work. When you are at your lowest point during your qualifying exams, your professors will offer comments that are especially cutting.
The skills and habits you are developing now, the words you choose to express yourself, will be crucial in determining how much help is offered and how much support is withheld. Arguably the most intelligent classmate I have ever had earned his Ph.D. and PNG in record time. What did he do wrong? He complained about the professional competence of members of the department. He could not take set backs in stride. He argued when he got beneficial guidance from faculty members.
Hey, @histofsci, I would very much prefer not to get into a spat of name calling. If you feel the need to travel that route, send a PM and we'll work it out. 
 
 
 

Just received my first acceptance from Ohio State University! Received a nice email and then a congratulatory follow up email from my POI later in the day. I know I should respond within the next 24 hours at least acknowledging the acceptance, but also am not sure how to go about it since I will obviously be waiting for a decision until I hear back from the other schools. How does one go about responding to these emails? I'm super excited for my first offer, I certainly did not expect to hear back so soon! 
 

What you said about Harvard is, unfortunately, true. Most of their assistant professors don't get tenured. Associate is tenured, so it's a bit different.
I think what you should do is approach this with an eye towards building a committee. Find someone who specializes in the history of oceangraphy (D. Graham Burnett at Princeton comes to mind, maybe Simon Schaffer or someone else at Cambridge) and try to find another  E. Asia specialist you can work with at the same time.

Obviously you should get the advice of someone in your field, but it mine (African history) it’s typical to have an Africanist as your main adviser and to work closely with a topical specialist who focuses on another region. There often aren’t enough Africanists at top universities to find a perfect match. The whole point of a topic or theme like the history of science, after all, is that it is supposed to pose coherent questions and contain useful methods for scholars working across geographical regions.