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Search Committees and Department Votes on Hiring

  1. The search committee will review applications for faculty positions and select applicants to be interviewed at MLA or elsewhere.
  2. After interviewing the candidates, the search committee will select a small number (usually three) to invite for campus interviews. The committee will make its selection based on majority vote.
  3. Based on the candidates' campus visit, on the department evaluation sheets ("blue sheets"), and on a review of the candidates' application materials, the search committee will rank the candidates and present this ranking to the department for a vote. The search committee does have the prerogative to exclude a candidate from consideration.
  4. The Group I faculty will meet to vote on the search committee's rankings. Before the vote, the search committee will make a brief presentation to explain the rationale behind its rankings, and the faculty will have an opportunity to ask questions about this rationale.
  5. The Group I faculty will then vote yes or no on each candidate, in order of ranking. The top-ranked candidate receiving a yes vote will be offered the position. If he or she declines it, the department will offer the position to the next-ranked candidate receiving a yes vote, and so on.
  6. Alternative to ranking. If the search committee finds itself deeply conflicted about the candidate ranking, and believes that a single ranking will too reductively misrepresent its sense of conflict, it may opt to forego ranking the candidates. Members of the search committee will then present to the department their individual assessments of each candidate's strengths and weaknesses. This option requires a majority vote of the search committee members.
  7. In such a case, the Group I faculty will make a single vote on all the candidates, each faculty member voting for one candidate:
    • If a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, he or she is offered the position. If he or she declines it, then the candidate with the second-most votes is offered the job, and so on.
    • If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, then a run-off vote takes place between the two candidates receiving the most votes. The department offers the position to the winner. If he or she declines it, the department offers the position to the runner-up. If he or she declines it, the department offers the position to the candidate who was excluded at the run-off vote.