Letter to Academic Human Resources

Dear Director Stone:

As President of the Campus Faculty Association, I write to ask for clarification on certain issues in the hiring process at the University of Illinois. Many of our members have requested information about these matters and I have therefore undertaken to write to you.

As background, a well-known case has established that a tenured or tenure-track job offer from the University of Illinois might be terminated on the basis of statements made in the candidate’s capacity as a citizen (unconnected with any employment).

The Campus Faculty Association disagrees strongly with this decision. But if the administration’s decision is to stand, then the following issues need to be addressed.

1. What types of statement outside the professional setting may be collected and examined in the hiring process? Can information from personal websites, blogs, Twitter accounts, and other social media sites be used in evaluating candidates?

2. What criteria are to be used to evaluate a job candidate’s extramural opinions and the tone in which they are expressed?

3. At what stage of the hiring process should the extramural utterances of a job candidate be evaluated?

Respectfully,

Bruce Rosenstock

President, Campus Faculty Association

Cc: Heidi Johnson, Director, Office for Diversity, Equity and Access

Letter to Academic Human Resources