The hiring of academic administrators since the 1972Higher Education Guidelines

Procedures and Costs for Hiring Academic Administrators

“…It may be, for instance, that the reason for so few assistant and associate positions being advertised in the Chronicle relates to institutional practice to use these positions to "groom" members of underrepresented populations for other academic administrative positions. We have no evidence of this but propose it as one possible explanation for why the assistant and associate positions are not advertised nationally to the same extent as the mentor positions [1]. Another consideration worth mentioning, but not substantiated by this study, is the possibility that there has not been enough time to prepare and promote members of underrepresented populations into major academic administrative positions.…”

“…White males are maintaining their hold on academic administrative positions by filling nearly 75 percent of the positions advertised; and, of those positions vacated by a white male, the rate of replacement by white males is nearly 87 percent [1]. It is recognized that institutions may be serious about their affirmative action responsibilities and that there is evidence of hiring of underrepresented individuals in academic administrative positions.…”

“…In a previous study [1] it was reported that there had been a substantial increase in the placing of advertisements in the Chronicle of Higher Education since the 1972 Higher Education Guidelines, but not a substantial change in the sex and ethnic characteristics of the new hires.…”

“…If the sampled institutions were meeting both the letter and spirit of the law, the data were expected to suggest: (1) no substantial difference between the costs of hiring an internal candidate versus an external candidate, but (2) a substantial difference between the costs of hiring a member of an underrepresented population versus a white male.…”

Differential Job Change and Stability among Academic Administrators

“…Both Socolow [13] and Dingerson, Rodman, and Wade [4], for example, have attempted to make this assessment by examining the position listings published in the Chronicle of Higher Education and by gathering information on the resulting hiring practices. Often such studies have been motivated by the desire to assess how well institutions are responding to federal mandates to increase the representation of women and minorities.…”