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[rattus domesticus]

A friend of a friend of mine landed a non-tt f/t position at a university in the near-South. Her first contract was a three-year contract with the ability to renew yearly if both she and the campus were agreeable. With only an M.A., she was glad to get the work and move out of adjuncting. In fact, said campus made use of her--not only to teach undergraduate nuts & bolts courses, but a few graduate courses in a somewhat specialized area. After four and a half years of teaching, she went and bought a house in the area; luckily she bought a duplex so she could live in half and rent out half.

Here's the bad news. The campus did NOT renew her contract after six years. She could not find out why. She had received excellent reviews, good student comments, and had helped out on committees--go figure. The chair of the department said, "Well, you know about the six-year rule." This also happened to two other colleagues who were simply not renewed that year--and another three over the next two semesters. My friend never could get a straight answer about what the "six-year rule" was. And, of course, it was not on paper anywhere. Strangely enough, after these six lost their jobs (and livelihood), the department chair said that the six year rule had been rescinded. When asked if he would help my friend get another full-time job on the campus, weasel-chairman replied that "he didn't stick his neck out for anyone." She, of course, is working in an education-related job, hoping to keep from having her house taken away from her.

Anyone ever hear of this? Is there such a thing as the "six year rule?" Or was my friend just a casualty of a dean's housecleaning?

[anon]

did she get the phd during those six years?

[rattus domesticus]

No. No money. No time. Campus is 200 miles from anywhere that offers a Ph.D. I think her decision to buy a house while not in a t/t job was a bad one.

[%sig%]

[B.F.]

There isn't an all-reaching six-year rule out there, but it is possible that the college has a limit to how many times a non-TT position is renewed. I had a renewable non-TT position and  trusted when the chairperson said that my position would be renewed indefinitely. There was three-year rule that he said was not enforced. It turns out that he was wrong. The administration higher than him did not renew my position after the third year. Since the situation you describe happened to multiple people at that school, my guess is that there was six-year rule that the college decided to enforce. My chairperson stuck out his neck to no avail. I suspect the same result would have happened with your friend. The reality is that a person cannot afford to get comfortable with a position like that. You can have the rug pulled out from under you at any time.

[Anon]

Quite frankly, only a fool spends 6 years teaching and slaving for a school at the expense of finishing a Ph.D., and goes ahead and buys a HOUSE nearby, and then wonders why they didn't get hired permanently.

[academia sucks]

The university I just left has a six-year rule too.  Crazy.

[Anon]

The rule makes sense.  I started my career as full-time at a nice place, but I wasn't tenure-track.  Over time, it's only normal to feel bitter:  you might work very, very hard for a place, but you're always a 2nd class citizen.  The 6-year rule seeks to avoid the presence of permanent affiliates.  The case in question is really just an example of one person's stupidity;  you don't sacrifice a Ph.D. and go buy a house when working on affiliate contracts.

[academia sucks]

Everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds isn't Anon?!

[prytania3]

Why not buy a house? Real estate is still hot and a tax deduction. Maybe she can flip the property and make more than her salary. That would tide her over. Or she could get a home equity loan and then rent out both halves of the duplex.

[econ anon]

The heuristic is to buy if you're planning on staying 5 years or more...

[ullalay]

 Econ anon - 5 years is old school dude!

It depends on the area of the country (obviously) but often a good profit is to be made after only 2-3 years.

Sometimes less - if you can sell by owner.

[econ anon]

That is why it is called a heuristic.  5 years is the average that you can expect the value of the house to go up without losing a bundle in short-term fluctuations.  I was just pointing out that if you're going to be someplace 6 years, it's perfectly reasonable to buy a house.  If rates are going up, so much the better.

Besides, interest rates are going to be rising soon and with that the bottom will be dropping out of the housing market because too many people have multiple mortgages (with little to no down payment) set at variable rates.  So home ownership will become more expensive since it costs more to rent money and the people who have leveraged their credit without fixing the rate will not be able to make their monthly payments and will be forced to sell at a loss.

[EC]

Our school also have a six-year rule for non tenure-track full-time position. After that, they either have to offer you a tenure-track position or they have to let you go.

[Fiona]

The six-year rule comes from the AAUP policy that tenure decisions should be made in the sixth year. Many schools interpret that to mean that if someone isn't let go after the sixth year, that person has automatic de facto tenure.

[%sig%]

[Fiona is right...]

Read up about de facto tenure at:
http://www.aaup.org/Legal/info%20outlines/legdften.htm

[%sig%]