[CTcard]

I think a certain amount of skepticism is always warranted with these kinds of announcements, but having known several faculty members at UC Berkeley who have described the massive "ןɐɔ internal dysfunction" involved in faculty hiring and tenure decisions, it doesn't surprise me at all. Everything is extraordinarily bureaucratic and often times the faculty of a department will vote unanimously for a faculty member to get tenure, or overwhelmingly vote to lateral-hire an outside faculty member, only for the higher-ups to stall the approval for literally years, at which point the faculty member leaves to go elsewhere or accepts an offer at another institution because they don't want to wait for years to get hired.

I am a faculty member, and have several good friends at UC Across The Bay. Much of that story either doesn't ring true or sounds like standard practice at universities.

The tenure process is bureaucratic, as is much that goes on at large state universities. I have seen no evidence that particular aspect is worse at Berkeley than elsewhere.

It is quite common for the departmental tenure committee to vote for tenure but for it to be denied at higher levels; usually there is both a college and university-wide tenure committee as well. Deans and provosts tend to suspect that departments are too friendly with their own colleagues and thus not tough enough. And new deans/provosts often want to come in showing how tough the new regime will be.

Generally, higher ups cannot stall internal tenure decisions for years because the usual rule is that one cannot work beyond year seven without tenure (modulo various reasons your tenure clock might be temporarily stopped - a formal process that tends to involve things like child birth). There just aren't years available between the initial consideration and the time they have to fire you if not giving tenure.

Lateral hires are complicated. If you offer tenure upon hire, you have to make sure that you're not making a mistake which can be tricky if you haven't actually worked with the person. Such hires tend to be senior people and thus expensive, so one has to have the funds. Often departments love the idea, but not the people managing the budgets. I am trying to remember if I have seen more lateral hiring out of Berkeley or into Berkeley - can't quite remember but certainly some examples of each.

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None of the above should be taken as any indication that sports at Berkeley aren't a total circus.

[CTcard]

I think a certain amount of skepticism is always warranted with these kinds of announcements, but having known several faculty members at UC Berkeley who have described the massive "ןɐɔ internal dysfunction" involved in faculty hiring and tenure decisions, it doesn't surprise me at all. Everything is extraordinarily bureaucratic and often times the faculty of a department will vote unanimously for a faculty member to get tenure, or overwhelmingly vote to lateral-hire an outside faculty member, only for the higher-ups to stall the approval for literally years, at which point the faculty member leaves to go elsewhere or accepts an offer at another institution because they don't want to wait for years to get hired.

I am a faculty member, and have several good friends at UC Across The Bay. Much of that story either doesn't ring true or sounds like standard practice at universities.

The tenure process is bureaucratic, as is much that goes on at large state universities. I have seen no evidence that particular aspect is worse at Berkeley than elsewhere.

It is quite common for the departmental tenure committee to vote for tenure but for it to be denied at higher levels; usually there is both a college and university-wide tenure committee as well. Deans and provosts tend to suspect that departments are too friendly with their own colleagues and thus not tough enough. And new deans/provosts often want to come in showing how tough the new regime will be.

Generally, higher ups cannot stall internal tenure decisions for years because the usual rule is that one cannot work beyond year seven without tenure (modulo various reasons your tenure clock might be temporarily stopped - a formal process that tends to involve things like child birth). There just aren't years available between the initial consideration and the time they have to fire you if not giving tenure.

Lateral hires are complicated. If you offer tenure upon hire, you have to make sure that you're not making a mistake which can be tricky if you haven't actually worked with the person. Such hires tend to be senior people and thus expensive, so one has to have the funds. Often departments love the idea, but not the people managing the budgets. I am trying to remember if I have seen more lateral hiring out of Berkeley or into Berkeley - can't quite remember but certainly some examples of each.

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None of the above should be taken as any indication that sports at Berkeley aren't a total circus.