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[grasshopper]

I really think it depends on the department and the workload expected of the VAP. Someone who's teaching 5/5 with no benefits? No way would I suggest doing it. But a lower course load and full benefits? In a search that won't take 27 meetings and hours spent every evening pouring over CVs? Well, it might be useful. Not because it's a service line on the CV, which, yes, of course, doesn't even come close to comparing to a few well-placed publications. But because you get to see how the hiring process works from the inside.

[seniorscholar]

We sometimes ask a good VAP if s/he is interested in serving on the hiring committee for next year's VAPs -- since most of our comp classes are taught by grad students, VAPs, and adjuncts, the good VAP will be a useful addition to the committee from our perspective and for the potential new hires. We also generally ask the grad student who's currently serving as assistant to the comp director (generally in the final year or two of a comp/rhet degree). The learning experience is welcomed by most of the people who accept; the burden is not terribly large, compared to a TT search committee; and I certainly hope that the comp director always presents the service as an option, not a demand.

But though there are usually two advanced grad students on regular search committees (they have one vote between them and can split the work however they wish), I can't imagine asking a VAP to do that work.

[pocksuppet]

Should a VAP be expected to serve on a hiring committee?  Absolutely not.

Will the experience build your CV in a meaningful way?  Absolutely not.

Might you personally find it a worthwhile use of your time?  Quite possibly, but if so it will be for the insights it provides you for your own future job searches.

[arty_]

It's an absurd request, and you're right to politely decline. That you were even asked, let alone ridiculed for declining, says all too much about your department.  Use that time to publish your way the heck out of there.

[anthroid]

It's a nutty request and you're right to decline.  Where I've been, VAPs have the same teaching load as the regular faculty, though without the service and scholarship requirements.  However, they are VAPs and I always strongly encourage them to be excellent teachers--and, if they don't want a life of temporary positions, I really urge them to publish, publish, publish.  They shoud not be doing service or advising or anything, really, other than teaching in the VAP position and publishing so that they can become TT rather than VAP or worse.

[katgut5]

One good reason:
You would have some control over who is hired. That may help your own work/career situation. Just imagine not being on the committee and, after the search, being introduced to your new colleague, who is hostile to either you or your teaching, or wants to take the department in a direction you don't agree with?

I'm in a similar situation: as a musician, I'm on the hiring committee for a new orchestra conductor. It's a lot of work, but I have been able to have some influence and my input will help determine who I will work with.

As others have pointed out, seeing how the sausage is made may be enormously helpful if you go out and look for a job. Looking at a search from the committee's viewpoint is perhaps the absolute best information you could have as a candidate.

[tee_bee]

One good reason:
You would have some control over who is hired. That may help your own work/career situation. Just imagine not being on the committee and, after the search, being introduced to your new colleague, who is hostile to either you or your teaching, or wants to take the department in a direction you don't agree with?

The V in VAP stands for visiting. As in, not going to be there forever. What stake do most VAPs have in the "direction" of the department? And the extent of control over the process gained from service on the hiring committee is not all that great, in my experience. We can read all the files, and if the committee advances a candidate the other faculty don't like, we vote and sometimes drop candidates.

Again, more forcefully claimed: departments who put VAPs on search committees are accommodating shirkers. If the department has less than or equal to two regular faculty members, then assigning a VAP may make sense. But with three or more? Then there's plenty of faculty to form a proper search committee.