Endowed department head hiring at SDSU

[Jimmy Gu]

Jurisdiction

South Dakota

Recently our department (Agriculture and Biosystem Engineering) selected three final-list candidates for the department head position and completed an on-site interview. However, I found that all three candidates graduated from the same colleges (BS or MS degree institutes) as the senior faculty (Dr. Muthu) in my department. The committee chair and vice dean (Dr. Gibbons) told our department that all 9 applicants (in total 11) were invited by Dr. Muthu (current interim department head).


Yesterday, Dr. Muthu announced in department meeting that the best external candidate refused the offer, now he submitted his application and will accept the department head position after his on-site interview.



I have couple of questions:

1. Whether this is legal or not? Should we restart recruiting, or continue electing from the candidates pool?
2. Whether this ethic? Any potential ethic issues involved here? Should Dr. Muthu avoid applying for this position because he recruited all 9 candidates including all 3 top candidates, who have close relationships (classmates or alumni) with him.
3. As an applicant for this position, should I find a lawyer to start legal process about potential discrimination issues in this case?

Thanks for your help


Jimmy Gu

 

[zddoodah]

1. Nothing you described is illegal (unless South Dakota has unique rules governing hiring practices at state universities, which is something no one here is going to know about). As far as what "we" should or should not do, (1) it's not clear what your relationship is to all of this, and (2) this doesn't appear to be a legal question.

2. Depends on what system of ethics you're using and, again, not a legal issue.

3. Discrimination on what basis?

P.S. Identifying the university and using what I assume are real names in a public forum is not wise. I strongly suggest you edit your post for purposes of anonymity.

 

[cbg]

Discrimination based on what school one attended is legal. Nothing that you have posted suggests that the school has violated any laws or protected rights, and nothing you have posted suggests that you have any basis for legal action.

 

[adjusterjack]

As an applicant for this position, should I find a lawyer to start legal process about potential discrimination issues in this case?

Sure. Aggravate your employer. Good idea. You won't last long on the job you do have.

Welcome to the real world.

 

[Tax Counsel]

I have couple of questions:

Whether this is legal or not? Should we restart recruiting, or continue electing from the candidates pool?

What you've stated so far does not violate federal law or South Dakota's employment law that applies to all employers, private or public. The university is free to use whatever process it wants unless state law prescribes a special process the university must use when hiring. You'd need to ask a local employment law attorney about that. Assuming that no specific law regulates the university on this then it is up to the university's governing body how to proceed. This is not a "we" situation as you evidently are not the decision maker.

Whether this ethic? Any potential ethic issues involved here?

That depends on what system of ethics you apply. Ethical violations are not the same things as a violation of the law, however. For what it's worth, I don't see any ethical issues here.

As an applicant for this position, should I find a lawyer to start legal process about potential discrimination issues in this case?

Most discrimination is legal. When it comes to employment, discrimination is only illegal under federal law if the reason for the discrimination is the employee's/applicant's race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, etc) national origin, citizenship, age, disability, or genetic test information. Under South Dakota law it is illegal for an employer to discriminate based on the employee's/applicants race, color, creed, religion, sex, ancestry, disability or national origin. Discrimination based on educational background is not illegal under either federal or state law.