Most of us have attended our scholarly guilds’ mega-conferences, the ones that are staggeringly large, with programs that look like the phone books for some of our college towns.

I often wonder how many people would attend these conferences, however, if they weren’t either interviewing for jobs or interviewing candidates. Most senior scholars confide to me that they really prefer the smaller, more specialized conferences that drill down deeply and provide a more leisurely pace for discussions. I have to admit that I’ve attended several mega-conferences where I’ve sat in on only a couple of paper sessions because I was so busy with job-search activities.

Do you think the mega-conferences survive primarily because of their efficient support of the academic “meat market”?

In further signs that university endowments — even the wealthiest ones — are taking a hit in the nation’s economic crisis, The Boston Globe reports that Harvard University’s largest faculty division is freezing staff hiring and rethinking faculty searches, and The New York Times reports that Harvard and other institutions are exploring opportunities to sell some of the more volatile chunks of their endowment portfolios.

Michael D. Smith, dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, wrote in an e-mail message to department heads on Monday that Harvard’s endowment losses would have “a major and long-lasting impact” and would “require...

Two Colorado politicians have thrown their hats in the ring for the chance to become chancellor of the Colorado State University system, seeking a post that technically has not been established yet, The Coloradoan reports.

According to the newspaper, the CSU Board of Governors is planning to create a separate “CEO-style chancellor position,” since Larry E. Penley — who serves in the dual roles of chancellor of the CSU system and president of the Fort Collins campus — resigned suddenly earlier this month (Penley’s last day is November 30). The board will discuss the issue at its December meeting.

U.S. Senator Wayne Allard, who is retiring from the Senate...

New England College has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the former director of its master’s-degree program in poetry stole faculty members and students from the New Hampshire institution and re-created the program at Drew University, in New Jersey, The Concord Monitor reported.

In the lawsuit, which names both the former director, Anne Marie Macari, and Drew as defendants, New England is seeking compensation for lost tuition, which it estimates at “six figures” for this year alone, and the $33,000 salary it paid Ms. Macari in her last year at the college.

An employment lawyer in Concord, N.H., who is not part of the case told the newspaper that the strength of New England’s claim would rest on whether Ms. Macari was still working for the New...

At a recent conference panel, one of the topics was the role of undergraduates in faculty searches. One speaker suggested that students should only be involved if they were closely supervised by a search-committee member, including at meals and any other sessions with the candidates.

At my first institution, we generally had one or two students serving as adjunct members of a search committee, and that experience has permanently shaped my feelings on the subject. While it is certainly true that undergraduates must be carefully trained and socialized to conduct themselves properly, the advantages of involving them are great.

First, candidates will often say things to students that they would never say in the presence of other committee members. I have seen candidates both eliminate themselves from consideration by treating students with disdain, and move...

Ray Sansom, Florida’s new Speaker of the House, has landed a $110,000-a-year job as vice president for planning and development at Northwest Florida State College, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports.

Mr. Sansom, a Republican, is the latest in a series of legislators to be named to high-paying jobs at institutions they help to oversee, the newspaper notes:

“Last spring, Sen. Mike Haridopolos, an Indialantic Republican in line to lead the House in two years, was hired to a $75,000-a-year job as a professor at the University of Florida.

“Shortly after that, Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach, who has overseen state university budgets, was hired to a $100,000-plus job overseeing a satellite program at Florida State...

Things are looking up … for California State University administrators. Despite a budget crisis and plans to limit student enrollment, the Board of Trustees of the California State University system and Chancellor Charles Reed, are handing out big raises to top CSU administrators, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. According to the newspaper:

Chancellor Charles Reed approved salary increases of up to 19 percent for nine vice presidents at four of CSU’s 23 campuses earlier this year, and approved 11 new appointments of vice presidents at nine campuses at salaries of as high as $225,000.

A committee of the Board of Trustees reviewed those pay raises on Tuesday, endorsed a separate 10 percent salary raise for an interim vice chancellor...

Two university presidents who are among the highest-paid campus leaders in the United States announced this week that they would be dipping into their bank accounts to benefit their institutions.

Citing tight finances, Mark S. Wrighton, chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis, said today that he would cut his own salary next year by 10 percent.

In an e-mail message distributed to the campus, Mr. Wrighton said that while the university has strong overall financial health, its endowment has taken a 25-percent hit since July. The university’s holdings were worth $5.7-billion last year. Mr. Wrighton said he...

Baylor College of Medicine trustees dismissed Peter Traber as the institution’s president on Wednesday, ending a rocky five-and-a-half-year tenure that included a split with the college’s teaching hospital, the Houston Chronicle reported today.

Dr. Traber agreed to step down on December 1 and will serve as president emeritus, professor of medicine, and a consultant to the board. The trustees did not provide reasons for their decision, but the Chronicle reported that “highly placed sources” had cited “seemingly endless turmoil and shaky finances” at the medical school, which is not connected with Baylor University.

“I wouldn’t put all the blame on Dr. Traber,” Bob Allen, chairman of the trustees, said after the meeting. “The challenges...

Denise, I know I’ll have to re-write this. I was just having a little fun. -G

Guess what? Good news. Things are looking up … for California State University administrators, that is. Oh sure, CSU’s budget crisis is so severe that the system is planning to turn away thousands of students — c’mon, who likes students anyway? — and some campuses are cutting lecturers — without students, what do you need lecturers for? — but, despite all that, the Board of Trustees of the California State University system and Chancellor Charles Reed, are handing out big raises to top CSU administrators, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Hooray!

As the newspaper tells it:

Chancellor Charles Reed approved...