The whole elitist notion of a sense of entitlement and the disasters that it creates played out yet again at UF. As you know, if you have read this blog, the Law School was told to hire the spouse of someone another college wanted. Whether a good thing or not, it happens all the time.
Under UF regulations, all positions have to be advertised. So what is a college to do when told by the Central Administration to hire someone but posting an ad would be fraudulent since the position is filled.
You might think, "since this goes on all the time, it would be odd that the University would post multiple fraudulent ads." And then, especially if you were a lawyer, you might do some research and find out how these things are handled to avoid a constant flow of fraudulent ads that may very well lead to some form of legal exposure. And you would discover that the posting requirement is waived in some spousal hiring situations. You might go with this logic which involves common sense and the humility to know you might learn something.
You might do that but if you are from Harvard you do not think that way. In fact, your instinct is to go the sneaky route although you do not think of it as sneaky since you are from Harvard and, thus, entitled to do exactly what you want pretty much when you want to and it becomes OK because you are from Harvard.
So when the Harvard products who ran UF law hiring this year were faced with hiring a spouse they appeared to put their noggins together (no one person has fessed up yet so I cannot be sure it was a joint fuck up) and did what people with a sense of entitlement do -- exactly what they want to do and placed what amounted to a fraudulent ad. Yes, no one had the balls or the humility to say "can we really do this?" Or, "Isn't this unfair to the people who will apply for this job?"Nope. After all, those folks who might apply are just riff-raff.
So once again, the Law School, rather than the place others look to for ethical standards, actually becomes a substitute for a Three Stooges movie.
Hey, Harvard, how about a course on humility? Oh, sorry, no one there is qualified to teach it.
3 comments:
I only see an opening for the Dean position:
https://jobs.ufl.edu/postings/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=&query_v0_posted_at_date=&357=&358=&360=&359=&363=2&361=&query_organizational_tier_2_id=4278&query_organizational_tier_3_id=any&commit=Search
Then again that might be a fraudulent ad too considering that applicants aren't going to get the job anyway.
Fred, notices are up for, I think, two weeks. It was posted on March 10. Of course, we do not have a dean. Here is a copy: The University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law seeks to fill an associate professor, tenure track faculty position with candidates committed to teaching in the following areas: Environmental Law, Energy Law, Property, Contracts, Evidence, Professional Responsibility and Legal Ethics. Applicants for this position should hold a J.D. or LL.B. degree from an accredited law school and have distinguished academic credentials, relevant legal experience, and a demonstrated commitment to outstanding research and scholarship. The anticipated starting date is the Fall Term of 2014. Rank and salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. Members of groups under represented in the legal profession are particularly encouraged to apply. The University of Florida is an equal opportunity employer. Please include curriculum vita, transcript(s), and the names of three references.
In the Faculty of Law at McGill University, I once counted eight pairs of instructors who were spouses or parent and child. That's right: sixteen people in a faculty with about 170 students per year.
A respectable institution would simply prohibit the hiring of near relatives so as to avoid even the suspicion of nepotism. Ah, but this is Law™, where aristocrats do as they damn well please.
Post a Comment