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[felix_unger]

http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2007/04/2007042701c?pg=dji

While I found the article meandering and poorly-written in places, I was glad to see a response to a column that generated so much debate. It kind of reminded me of how, once upon a time, similar "logic" was used against giving women the vote...they'd simply vote the way their husbands told them too, of course. Married men would have an unfair voting advantage over nonmarried ones!

[prattlibrary]

I'm less concerned about couples who vote as one bloc. Though I have seen that happen more than once, I want to believe that people have greater ethical standards and will vote their consciences rather than their spouses' consciences.

I am mostly concerned about the bargaining power of academic couples. As many of the responses have already shown, when a candidate is considered for hire, he or she can and often does request a job for a spouse. Even if/when the hiring process isn't subverted, the spouse is given preferential consideration. When reviewing contracts for re-hire, considering tenure, and other employment issues, academic couples have far more bargaining power to get what they want than the person whose spouse doesn't work in the college.

[molly1]

I'm a bit late replying to this column.  So far, I haven't seen any response regarding the effect on students and staff.  If the Chair of a department is the spouse or partner of a faculty member in the department, and if a student or staff member (or another faculty member) has a legitimate difficulty with the spouse or partner, to whom do they go for recourse? 

[patchouli]

I'm a bit late replying to this column.  So far, I haven't seen any response regarding the effect on students and staff.  If the Chair of a department is the spouse or partner of a faculty member in the department, and if a student or staff member (or another faculty member) has a legitimate difficulty with the spouse or partner, to whom do they go for recourse? 

I tend to share Molly's concerns here.  I have seen a strong conflict of interest in one department I worked in where the chair's spouse wrote critical letters and put them in each department members' mailboxes of those who disagreed with her husband. 

On the other hand, I have also worked in a department where the married couple had the highest of ethical and professional behavior.