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University reduces searches for new faculty by two-thirds
Published: Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
The University will authorize only about one-third as many searches for new faculty as it has in the past, Provost Christopher Eisgruber ‘83 said on Monday at the annual public meeting of the Priorities Committee.
Economic pressures will continue to ...
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Based on the first sentence, shouldn't the headline read: "University to reduce new faculty hires by two-thirds"?
I was just about to comment the same thing....they are reducing by two-thirds, or Eisgruber was misquoted.
never mind, it was corrected.
Yes, "an education second to none," except for that education where we had reasonable precept sizes and didn't get rid of preceptors after the year had already started.
@Disgruntled
Cuts are going on everywhere. While you may be suffering a bit this year compared with a few years ago, so is everyone else, so you are still second to none.
The real problem with cutting faculty searches is that it is a lost opportunity. Normally, we compete with the best schools for the top people, doing all we can to recruit them. This year, that recruit would be far easier, as hiring has come a relative standstill nationwide. While I understand the need for fiscal conservatism for an endowed university to survive and remain at the top, if we went out on a limb and spent endowment money now on new hire, that would have far greater return on investment than in normal economic conditions. We should be buying up intellectual capital while the market is frozen.
@ babyprof
Seconded! This is a great time for Princeton to buy up budding stars.
@babyprof:
There's a whole group of economists who suggest exactly that type of aggressive investment during a relatively cheap time, when it comes to all sorts of things: faculty, infrastructure, etc. We could really push ahead if we were willing to spend more of our endowment now with the understanding that we'd spend less in future years, when things go back to being more expensive. Unfortunately, this is an inherently conservative institution with relatively non-visionary administrators like Eisgruber clutching tight on the purse-strings.
I'd love to hear Eisgruber explain exactly how "changes to undergraduate student life" = "no changes in the quality of education" = "a reduction in the number of courses offered, the number of visiting professors and the numbers of small classes" = "an education second to none" = "hiring junior people rather than experienced academic 'superstars.'" Can we say "talking out of both sides of his a$$"?!