The Two-Body Problem: Dual-Career-Couple Hiring Practices in Higher Education

9. Common Concerns about Dual-Career Hiring Practices

9 Common Concerns about Dual-Career Hiring Practices 120 There is little disagreement among academic couples that finding satisfying employment at the same institution, or at least at institutions close together, is ideal. In some circumstances, colleges and universities will find it advantageous to accommodate couples and partners. If the accommodation is successful, the institution will likely reap the benefits of improved recruitment and retention, have two happy, productive employees, and be viewed as family friendly. Yet the decision to accommodate is not an easy one. Typically, institutions weighing this decision worry about the fairness of accommodating spouses or partners of faculty members, the legality of such accommodations, the fear of diluting faculty quality, the implications for a unit’s overall personnel needs, and maintaining faculty autonomy in hiring. Some of these concerns are practical, and some arise from seemingly incompatible institutional and individual commitments. In this chapter we discuss these important concerns and explore some of the implications of possible resolutions. We draw on the relevant literature, our survey, and the case studies we conducted. We do not have the answers, but we believe that if institutions are to move toward satisfactory solutions to the growing problem of dual-career academic couples, they will have to address these key concerns. Is Dual-Career Accommodation Fair? As institutions of higher education consider whether to engage in dual-career accommodations of any kind, they are likely to hear questions concerning the fairness of doing so. In the hiring practices of colleges and universities until the 1960s, discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, and religion was common, and cronyism and nepotism were none too rare (Caplow and McGee 1958). The now familiar approach to hiring, including the public advertising of positions, reference checking, campus interview, and so forth, was intended to thwart discrimination and favoritism and thereby advance the principle of fairness. Dual-career policies, which some see as challenging this core principle, have met with strong opposition, as suggested by the following quotations from a colloquy in the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2000. Although having a spouse nearby is definitely preferable, the preferential hiring of them by universities is wrong. The university should pick the best candidate for the job. As a single person, about to enter an academic job search, I feel very strongly about this. Single male, 27, seeks “academic star” for marriage, good times, and possible help gaining full-time employment. . . . Come on people. Give me a break. The academic market is a jungle. Many single people cannot find jobs, so why would anyone expect it to be easy for couples to find jobs at the same institution? The argument that “a happy professor is a good professor” is just silly. If colleges were really worried about the happiness of those who teach students, we wouldn’t have the abusive adjunct system we currently have. The notion of preference for spouses seems an antiquated idea that endorses a certain very old fashioned family structure and value. Who decides what family structure an institution should support? When does “preference” become “nepotism ”? Is spouse preference fair to people like me whose personal and professional struggles combined are substantive, complicated, and burdensome? Under no circumstances should preferential treatment be given to academic spouses. I have seen several cases where a male faculty member was sought after so badly that another faculty position opening suddenly “materialized” to hire his spouse. If the spouse is that good, she should be able to compete for the position on her own merits. I find it extremely distasteful when universities manufacture positions for the favored few. When the institution makes itself responsible for the family members it takes on a role that is neither appropriate nor financially supportable. Isn’t it time that colleges and universities stopped being held accountable for anything except higher education and research? Why should a potential faculty member feel that his/her spouse is entitled to a job at the same institution? Do spouses of employees in other venues routinely expect the employer to offer them positions? Analyzing these responses, one is struck by the different ways individuals perceive dual-career accommodations to be unfair. To describe their objeccommon concerns about hiring practices || 121 tion to such policies, they use words such as “nepotism,” “favoritism,” “discrimination ,” and “unfair entitlement.” Clearly, many in academe believe that institutions should not accommodate dual-career academic couples— especially when the accommodation involves creating...