Posted by David Bernstein:
Some Choice Words on Law School Faculty Hiring
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2007_09_16-2007_09_22.shtml#1190246349
[1]from Jeff Harrison, professor at University of Florida law school.
The handling of the [Chemersinky] situation so many have written
about sounds like there is no other interpretation than Irvine
blundered.
But Pleeeeze, no more claims of being outraged that politics
entered into the decision. I have seen decanal hiring, faculty
hiring, tenure review letters, teaching evaluations, and tenure
decisions affected by the political leanings of the candidate. I
have watched while one candidate has his or her resume and
scholarship dissected while another candidate gets a light look all
based on political philosophy. I've seen the bottom of the class
become "outstanding" and top of the class become not so good.I have
seen one very liberal decanal candidate go down in flames when,
evidently on the basis of one or two rumors, he was determined to
be "insufficiently sensitive to race." A minority faculty candidate
was nailed because he was not the "right kind of African American."
The persistent obsession with hiring people with elite credentials
with no verification that they are better scholars or teachers than
other top grads is yet another political decision that defines the
profession. If this does not go on at your own school, that's nice
but, come on, our profession operates under a huge
anti-intellectual cloud and claims of outrage and surprise are
disingenuous.
References
1.
http://money-law.blogspot.com/2007/09/politics-lets-not-claim-to-be-surprised.html
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