Harsh Words in Harsh Times

Canceled searches are (sadly) a hot topic these days, what with the lousy economy and university budgets being axed left and right. Now, via University Diaries, comes word of this Minnesota Daily column by a professor who’s not taking her department’s canceled search lying down.

In her column, Eva von Dassow, an associate professor in the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities’ classics and Near Eastern-studies department, pens what some faculty members may be thinking but would never say openly.

First she chastises the administration for pulling the plug on a search that was nearly complete, thereby wasting faculty time:

Last June, CNES received authorization from the College of Liberal Arts to search for a replacement in ancient religion. This position was meant to serve the newly established undergraduate program in religious studies, which was identified as one of the university’s priorities in its latest strategic plan. We had almost carried the search to a successful conclusion; after the long process of reading applications and conducting preliminary interviews, we had identified three excellent candidates to invite to campus.

Then, on December 9, the bulk of our work having been completed, CLA notified CNES that our search was canceled. We could do nothing but inform our 50 applicants that their trouble was in vain. We shall be unable to offer the courses the successful candidate would have come to the university to teach. The time and effort put forth by faculty, students, and staff to conduct the search had been wasted.

For what? To save the cost of hiring a starting assistant professor, whose salary would be in the range of $55,000 per year, plus benefits. Compare that to the salaries of top administrators and athletics coaches. It’s nice that the university’s top brass froze executive compensation upon imposing the hiring pause. But it doesn’t hurt to have your salary frozen at several hundred thousand dollars per year.

Then she upbraids the university’s president for not doing more to defend its academic mission:

President Bob Bruininks said in a December 4 e-mail message to employees that the administration’s objectives during the current economic crisis are to “maintain the core strength and quality of the university” and to “increase productivity … while improving service and efficiency.” How does cutting faculty positions serve to maintain quality? How does it improve service and efficiency to withdraw curriculum from students trying to complete degrees? How does it increase productivity to waste employees’ time by canceling searches that are under way? I could have taught an entire course in the time I spent chairing the search in ancient religion or used that time for research. Besides reducing productivity, when the university administration throws our time away, it throws away its putative commitment to excellence.

The administration’s communications addressing the university’s financial problems always refer to the state, the state’s budget deficit and the state’s appropriation to the university — as if the hiring pause, with all its consequences, simply results from Minnesota’s strained economic situation. I submit that the university’s financial position would be much better now if the administration had not chosen to spend large sums on things it wanted, regardless of whether those things have anything to do with the university’s core academic mission. …

Tell us, readers, do you share her frustration?