American Association of University Professors issues recommendations on dual-career couple hires

Some months back, Science Careers focused on the challenges facing dual-career academic couples looking for work. On Wednesday, the American Association of University Professors issued a report, entitled Recommendations on Partner Accommodation and Dual Career Appointments (2010), that highlights the great complexity of the issues involved.

On the one hand, providing career opportunities for the partners of first hires "can be an important part any work/life balance initiatives" at universities, the report states. On the other hand, providing positions for partners in an era of crowded job markets and tight budgets "may present other difficulties that must be anticipated." These include collective bargaining agreements or anti-discrimination measures that specify particular steps that must be followed in advertising and filling positions, resentment in departments that feel pressured to accept a partner, and the unfairness of replacing "a long-serving contingent faculty member" with a trailing spouse.

A tenure-track post for the partner "is often the most satisfactory solution from the candidate’s point of view," the report notes. Yet, hiring decisions — including those made to accommodate a partner — should all be "part of a process driven by considerations of merit," it adds. And while dealing with the needs of couples, universities should simultaneously "take every care to ensure that faculty members appointed as part of a dual-career arrangement are treated as separate individuals valuable in their own right.".

Perhaps their most significant recommendation for universities that offer to accommodate partners of faculty hires: "a clearly worded policy that covers all full-time appointments," preferably posted on a publicly accessible website.

From the applicant’s standpoint, two important points emerge. The report advises that, in order to "avoid intrusive and possibly illegal inquiries" about personal life, universities should leave it to the candidate to open discussions of partner accommodations. So applicants would be wise to inform themselves in advance about each university’s policies before raising the issue. Finally, the report hints at a potential danger. Universities should not use an inquiry about potential accommodation "as an excuse to eliminate the candidate from consideration for the position."