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Date: April 8, 2013
To: Thom Harpole, Director, Employee Relations and Compliance
Re: Search for faculty position VPAA 2013-14-8, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering
As members of the search committee for the above referenced faculty position, we are writing to you to formally express our concern about the fairness of the process associated with this search. Our concerns are:
The search was initiated by the explicit desire of a former faculty member to return to a position from which he had resigned two years earlier. Acting on this request, the Dean of the College of Engineering informed the faculty at the Fall 2012 retreat that Dr. Beighley was coming back -- even before a search committee was formed. We believe that if a former faculty member wishes to return to a position he/she once held, that person should not enjoy any special treatment.
As members of the search committee, we were informed at one point that the advertised position would not be completely funded by the university and that a successful candidate would have to supplement his/her salary from external funding in the first year. This important information was not disclosed in the ad for the position, yet we were informed that Dr. Beighley was aware of this requirement. We believe that this procedure is unfair, as it places all other candidates at a clear disadvantage.
The information we were given about the need for substantial supplemental funding led us, as committee members, to eliminate some promising young candidates whose funding at the early stage of their career was too low to meet that expectation. As a result, we believe we ended up with a potentially biased short list of candidates.
The concerns expressed above demonstrate procedural errors that have led to a search that is fundamentally flawed and cannot be repaired at this stage if rejection letters have already been mailed. We believe that it is in the best interest of the university and all the candidates that appropriate measures be taken to remedy this situation. This will ensure compliance with the SDSU Faculty Recruitment and Hiring Procedures, ensuring that the process is objective, consistent, and rational.
Respectfully,
Dr. Victor M. Ponce, Professor of Civil Engineering
Dr. Janusz Supernak, Professor of Civil Engineering
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