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[anyother]

"Finally, I question the notion that many men + one woman + a hotel room = a reasonable expectation that gang rape should cross the woman's mind."

I understand the point, but I think it's completely reasonable to assume that *some* women might have personal experiences or perspectives that would cause some anxiety or lead to uncomfortable thoughts in that situation.

Thankfully I'm in a field that never does hotel room/suite interviews. I think it's a pretty ridiculous norm.

[polly_mer]

Finally, I question the notion that many men + one woman + a hotel room = a reasonable expectation that gang rape should cross the woman's mind.  Does that thought simply promote stereotypes (e.g. man as uncontrollable sexual animal, women as targeted prey) that academia has worked so hard to eliminate?

Let me rephrase this and see if you get the point.

Your daughter tells you she plans to go alone to a bedroom with a bunch of men she doesn't know in a place that probably won't have many witnesses passing by.  Would you think this is a good idea or would you be screaming "What are you thinking?"

I am a woman in engineering so most of the search committees are, by necessity, all male.  Interviewing in a hotel room (not a suite or conference room) would give me a very bad impression of a department.  Displaying the attitude that Untenured has just shown upon hearing that I insist on sitting near the door that will be ajar would cause me to terminate the interview then and there. 

If the committee cannot see the big red flags that should be evident to anyone in this situation, what kind of treatment can I expect when I join the department?

[historian]

As a woman I've interviewed in every setting with all sorts of committees:

In a hotel room not a suite?
Best:  they made a seating area around a table in the room with extra chairs. SCs of every type and nary a problem or discomfort.  The one where the bed was unmade and room service piled in a corner? Weird, but still it was basically conferencing around a table.

Worst: twice I've been seated on a BED. Worse, once  up near the pillow end with a two men  next to me and three across. The cheap rooms were so small that you had to be careful not to hit knees across the space between the other double bed where the rest of the committee was sitting.  I'm not particularly nervous, nor am I very young and inexperienced. I am, however, not crazy. You take a tense do or die interview that arrangement and I guarantee you concentration isn't the best. 

On the "worst" two: I'll leave you with what my classmate (male) said when I told him about those arrangements---"You know, if something happened, the first thing the police or anyone would say is 'why the hell did you stay?'"

Yeah, sounds hysterical to some that we would be anxious in some of these poorly thought out set ups but my friend was exactly right.

For God's sake OP, at least get chairs and *make* a conference area in the room. As for the coffee shop?  I'm tt and applying seriously for other jobs, I did tell my chair I might put out a couple of apps, but I'm not sitting in the coffee shop of the Marriott advertising it to the SC faculty there from my school. I'd forego your interview first.

[katherineparr]

The AHA has guidelines about this. They appeared in the last Perspectives, I believe. If the SC in question is in history (suggested by the moniker of the OP), then interviewing in a hotel room with beds and personal materials (ie, clothes, toothbrushes, etc.) is considered unprofessional.

However, if the SC can arrange for the accomodations outlined by others (chairs, table, etc.), then you can muddle through. I've been interviewed in rooms, and while it was not ideal, it wasn't horrible.

As for my judgement of the school, that varied. One school considers itself R1 material and is gunning for the best hires it can get. So when they interviewed me (5 interviewers! Plus me!) in a hotel room with all of us ranged between 2 beds, I was unimpressed by their planning.

On the other hand, a small college with a 2-person search committee interviewed me in a hotel room and I didn't think it reflected on them at all. And we all fit nicely into a corner with 3 chairs and a little table.

What really cheeses me off is this: you get a room, but you're too cheap to register with the AHA. So you don't have the room number listed in the job area. So your interviewees are wondering where to go. Then you leave messages on their cell phones the *day of the interview* with the room number. Because cell phones never delay voice mail...never. Then when the candidate calls your room to figure out where to go (call every conference hotel and ask for search committee chair. Eventually find her. Hotel transfers call to her room, so you can't get the room number without bugging her), you're annoyed!!!

Grrr. Bbblshhpt. Must stop foaming at mouth.

[historian]

Oh, yes, what Katherineparr said about "messages"

I enjoyed the extra layer of panic induced by those who said to "check with the registry" for the room number who seemed to think they'd magically know your room number. You didn't register it, why would they know. Or, the guy who, in 2002 was p*ssed with me that I didn't have a cell phone--hey, Mr. BigShot did, why didn't Grad Student Applicant!

BTW, the "cracked door" in the hotel room? Did one of those interviews and since the SC kindly had me facing away from the bed to the door, I got to look at the *next* interviewee through most of mine as he hovered by the door listening. Good times.

[fannie]

When you interview in the job area, you get seen by all the schools there, and it's like you are advertising to the entire world just which schools are on your list.

Added to what people have said, I always found that the interviews in hotel rooms went better when the people took my coat at the door and hung it up, and offered me something to drink.  It was a nice moment to settle in and showed me that they were nice people.

[polly_mer]

BTW, the "cracked door" in the hotel room? Did one of those interviews and since the SC kindly had me facing away from the bed to the door, I got to look at the *next* interviewee through most of mine as he hovered by the door listening. Good times.

The blatant eavesdropping of the next interviewee hadn't occurred to me.  As long as he doesn't make faces to make me giggle, I don't really care.  What's he going to do, try to steal my fantastic research plans or ideas for a new elective?  Let him watch and quake with fear as he realizes that I am clearly the superior candidate.  I'm willing to wage psychological warfare against the competition.

[onion]

Finally, I question the notion that many men + one woman + a hotel room = a reasonable expectation that gang rape should cross the woman's mind.  Does that thought simply promote stereotypes (e.g. man as uncontrollable sexual animal, women as targeted prey) that academia has worked so hard to eliminate?

As someone who was once sexually groped by a job candidate, I don't find it beyond the realm of possibility that I might be sexually assaulted by other strange men I've never met before.  It's not probable, but it is possible.

That some women do fear rape is not "simply promot[ing] stereotypes"; it's a sad reality that some women with a personal history of rape may be more vigilant in situations that feel dangerous.  Wearing a skirt, sitting on a bed facing two strange men sets off my alarm bells. I'm sorry if that offends you, Untenured.

[dr_stones]

Finally, I question the notion that many men + one woman + a hotel room = a reasonable expectation that gang rape should cross the woman's mind.  Does that thought simply promote stereotypes (e.g. man as uncontrollable sexual animal, women as targeted prey) that academia has worked so hard to eliminate?

As someone who was once sexually groped by a job candidate, I don't find it beyond the realm of possibility that I might be sexually assaulted by other strange men I've never met before.  It's not probable, but it is possible.

That some women do fear rape is not "simply promot[ing] stereotypes"; it's a sad reality that some women with a personal history of rape may be more vigilant in situations that feel dangerous.  Wearing a skirt, sitting on a bed facing two strange men sets off my alarm bells. I'm sorry if that offends you, Untenured.

Amen, Onion.

You have my full support as a man and a professional.  Why in the world is MLA still interviewing in this fashion?  There are other ways to set up interview quarters with some privacy of conversation but enough public presence to keep people safe from the idiots and predators in our midst.

[fannie]

And, it's simply inappropriate to ask a woman who may be wearing a suit skirt to sit on a bed.  And if you want to know why, put on a suit skirt and sit on a bed.

I only had one sc ever that was all men.   It was a terrible interview, directly attributed to the fact that they were all men. 

Oh, and come to recollect, they sat me on the corner of a chaise lounge.  I remember thinking, "all I have to do is lean back..."

[historian]

BTW, the "cracked door" in the hotel room? Did one of those interviews and since the SC kindly had me facing away from the bed to the door, I got to look at the *next* interviewee through most of mine as he hovered by the door listening. Good times.

The blatant eavesdropping of the next interviewee hadn't occurred to me.  As long as he doesn't make faces to make me giggle, I don't really care.  What's he going to do, try to steal my fantastic research plans or ideas for a new elective?  Let him watch and quake with fear as he realizes that I am clearly the superior candidate.  I'm willing to wage psychological warfare against the competition.

nah, actually I was an "old hand" at interviewing by then and it was weird rather than unnerving.  It did make me want to laugh at one point because he looked like a weird stalker in a bad movie. Right up to the door and practically had his nose in the opening. I think I did unnerve him---he was obviously grad-student-nervous looking and I was a 3rd year on the tt experienced candidate who had the added bonus of knowing within 5 mins that I was interviewing with Dysfunctional U (thanks, got one of those already!) and so was more than calm.

For those of you going out the first time, never underestimate the potential for weird events during an interview!  

[untenured]

Let me rephrase this and see if you get the point.

Your daughter tells you she plans to go alone to a bedroom with a bunch of men she doesn't know in a place that probably won't have many witnesses passing by.  Would you think this is a good idea or would you be screaming "What are you thinking?"

Let me un-rephrase and see if you get my point.

If my daughter 1) an adult aged 25 or more, 2) highly intelligent with an expected doctoral degree, enters into a hotel room in a 3) reputable hotel, 4) in the middle of the day, 5) during an academic conference, for the purpose of 6) interviewing for a job with 7) a group of fellow 7a) highly educated, 7b) adult, 7c) medium to senior rank university faculty, how would I react?  I would wish my daughter the best of luck.

I am a woman in engineering so most of the search committees are, by necessity, all male.  Interviewing in a hotel room (not a suite or conference room) would give me a very bad impression of a department.  Displaying the attitude that Untenured has just shown upon hearing that I insist on sitting near the door that will be ajar would cause me to terminate the interview then and there.

If you told me that my (assume male) presence in a hotel room with a small group of my male colleagues in the setting I described above created a reasonable expectation in your mind that I would participate with my collagues in a gang sexual assault of your body, I would be gravely insulted.  I would be pleased that you left the interview and never returned.

If the committee cannot see the big red flags that should be evident to anyone in this situation, what kind of treatment can I expect when I join the department?

If the interviewee cannot see me or my colleagues as anything other than potential rapists simply becuase I and my said colleagues are all male, I would not want you to join my department no matter how strong your credentials.

Untenured

[kyotokyoto]

Added to what people have said, I always found that the interviews in hotel rooms went better when the people ...... offered me something to drink.  It was a nice moment to settle in and showed me that they were nice people.

I second. Some would offer tea, coffee, and even expensive candies before the interviews started in such hotel suites.

But I also found some SCs are odd: they had tea and cookies etc right on the coffee table, right in front of me, but they did not offer any. I was not in any mood to chew anything during an interview, but I felt odd that I got no invitation to eat one cookie which was right in front of me.

[untenured]

I'm sorry if that offends you, Untenured.

I'm not offended.

Untenured

[onion]

Let me rephrase this and see if you get the point.

Your daughter tells you she plans to go alone to a bedroom with a bunch of men she doesn't know in a place that probably won't have many witnesses passing by.  Would you think this is a good idea or would you be screaming "What are you thinking?"

Let me un-rephrase and see if you get my point.

If my daughter 1) an adult aged 25 or more, 2) highly intelligent with an expected doctoral degree, enters into a hotel room in a 3) reputable hotel, 4) in the middle of the day, 5) during an academic conference, for the purpose of 6) interviewing for a job with 7) a group of fellow 7a) highly educated, 7b) adult, 7c) medium to senior rank university faculty, how would I react? 

So we're assuming, then, that highly-educated, medium-to-senior rank male faculty members never rape or take liberties with their female colleagues bodies?  I'd like to live in your world; it sounds much safer than mine.