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UCLA hiring Asst. Adjunct Professor “on a without salary basis” (PhD required)
- Mr_P 5y agoI'd bet someone just wanted to teach a course for fun and without compensation, but they had to formalize it and pose an actual job listing online for a month. Probably explains why the "Open date" & "Final date" are just 30 days apart.
- version_five 5y agoHow would that arise, that someone is connected enough to get them to post a course but not pay them to teach it? You can't just walk into a department and volunteer to teach a course.
- yoyopa 5y agowhy not?
- ssl232 5y agoAnd everyone else has to waste their time applying for a job for which the successful applicant is predetermined in order for the university to be able to tick the box that it was awarded fairly.
- Aeolun 5y agoChances are nobody is going to apply for a job that doesn’t compensate them? How desperate are they? Working for Mc Donalds would be a better source of income…
- the_arun 5y agoOn top of that they are looking for Ph.D candidate.
- KatePhD 5y agoNo, you're not reading that right. It states "Qualified candidates will have a Ph.D. in chemistry, biochemistry, or equivalent discipline and have significant experience and strong record in teaching chemistry or biochemistry at the college level."
- idonthaveanacc 5y agoThe people who apply to this aren’t just looking for a paycheck.
- fivea 5y ago> Chances are nobody is going to apply for a job that doesn’t compensate them? Having "UCLA professor of X" on a CV looks way better than having nothing. Keep things in perspective: there are people who pay large sums of money to go on boot camps so that they can have a line on their CV that can open doors.
- dekhn 5y agopostretirement I'd be more than happy to have a non-tenure track position with an office on campus and access to some campus resources at one of my neighboring universities. I would not ask for compensation.
- hackernewds 5y agoWell, wait until you find out about the Labor Certification process that all H1Bs to Green card applicants need to go through.
- oliwarner 5y agoI've seen roles designed for specific people that have actually ended up filled by a better applicant. If somebody better wants to come and teach for free, this is how they'll find them.
- mrintellectual 5y agoIs this common in academia? Not a snarky question, just genuinely curious.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- idonthaveanacc 5y agoIf you mean jobs created with a specific candidate in mind, yes. It’s how I got hired… at UCLA.
- jonnycomputer 5y agoBut with no compensation?
- lthornberry 5y agoNo, that part is very unusual, and every academic on Twitter is talking about this ad right now.
- fivea 5y ago> Is this common in academia? This is extremely common in academia. This is typically used to ensure exceptional long time researchers and PhD students, who already have all the context they need to have, have a shot at staying in the institution as a reward for their work. The standard application process doesn't allow this because you have literally the whole world to compete with for a position, evaluation processes can be gamed and exploited, and in some cases you also have unscrupulous individuals who falsify their credentials in a way that can't be corroborated in a timely manner.
- mziru 5y agoNot exactly. At least at UC, there are non-salaried "Researcher" titles for this purpose. This posting described teaching duties (though it's been taken down now.)
- tgv 5y agoThat doesn't make sense. All universities I've seen allow guest lecturers.
- idonthaveanacc 5y agoGuest lecturers don’t teach full courses at UCLA. Maybe for a class or two, but not for a full quarter.
- idonthaveanacc 5y agoYeah. This is likely for a researcher (i.e. Staff) already in the department who needs (or wants) to teach a class for some reason, but isn’t faculty. Source: I’m not in this department, but I’ve worked at UCLA for ~10 years
- jonnycomputer 5y agoI'm not sure not compensating someone is legal though.
- idonthaveanacc 5y agoI’m not sure what they’re doing is legal either (not a lawyer), but I suspect it’s impossible to figure out from a job posting; not enough information.
- WheelsAtLarge 5y agoIn some places managers regularly post job openings for jobs they have candidates for. They even go as far as interviewing a few people and not let them know that they have no chance. They have rules that say that all jobs have to be posted. Interesting how a rule that was meant to curve corrupted hiring practices get so easily circumvented.
- sys_64738 5y agoThey do this especially if there’s a diversity clause for interviews. They already have an internal candidate but need to interview at least one person of color or other diversity qualification. It wastes everybody’ time.
- qq66 5y agoThis either should be illegal or already is.
- impossiblefork 5y agoYes, it definitely sounds like it breaks minimum wage laws, and if it doesn't, precisely how it avoids doing that would be something quite interesting.
- IncRnd 5y ago> Yes, it definitely sounds like it breaks minimum wage laws, and if it doesn't, precisely how it avoids doing that would be something quite interesting. Actually, it sounds like it definitely doesn't break minimum wage laws. Since UCLA is a public land grant university, not private, wouldn't this simply be a volunteer position that isn't subject to minimum wage?
- devwastaken 5y agoUniversities are given special laws, so much so it makes you wonder if there aren't small illiminati-esque alumni that ensured it so. Just this week California was very quick to change the law to stop one of their unis from being sued.
- KatePhD 5y agoUniversities are not "given special laws." What nonsense.
- qq66 5y agoThey are frequently given special laws, principal among them tax-exempt status.
- devwastaken 5y agoLookup tenant rights for student housing. Students don't have it, they're explicitly exempt. A university does not have to follow the commercial process, they can make predatory contracts well outside of reason, tax free (for them), and reap all the profits. Things universities intentionally avoid teaching so students won't organize against the system abusing them.
- roenxi 5y agoThere has to be more to the story than just this job posting. Something is going on here.
- grandinteg3 5y ago
- mziru 5y agoLooks like they pulled down the listing this afternoon. Does anyone on this thread have a screenshot of it?
- lvs 5y ago
- heartofadog 5y agoPosting seems to have been removed. Fortunately, however: https://web.archive.org/web/20220318235002/https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF04991 https://web.archive.org/web/20220318235002/https://recruit.a... And yes, it literally says: The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA seeks applications for an Assistant Adjunct Professor on a without salary basis. Applicants must understand there will be no compensation for this position. An astonishing ethical (and intellectual) lapse on the part of someone at UCLA, in other words. It's easy to see why it got removed so quickly.
- version_five 5y agoFaculty hiring is outdated in a lot of ways - it takes a really long time, there is a very high burden on the candidate, in terms of preparing teaching and research statements, and often arranging for reference letters to be sent directly, and no real reciprocity from the university (I mean they can ask for a lot and give nothing in return). Also, faculty positions (at least STEM disciplines) don't pay well compared to many jobs. I was wondering if we'd start to see changes in the process, as universities must be losing the best candidates to industry jobs. Apparently they've gone a different direction. This implies there must be a glut of PHDs willing to work for free to get the experience. But I'd expect this would no be attracting top graduates, it looks more like a remedial way for people with money to get experience.
- zwaps 5y agoThere are plenty of people who are willing to forgo a lot to be able to do research. It is hard to overstate the difference in mentality. Few who are primed in academia would even think about salary as a main argument. Sadly, the trajectory runs in the other direction. There’s a glut of good and internationally mobile candidates who will literally work for free around the clock for a chance. They are, of course, mercilessly exploited.
- linspace 5y agoExploitation by a system based on education, by highly educated people, for the advancement of society. This is what you get when you are powerless and dependent on good faith even in the best environment.
- KatePhD 5y agoCompared to Humanities, STEM faculty are the highest paid in academia. There is no "glut' of chemistry and biochemistry PhDs. There is high demand for biochemists with an expected 5% increase in positions in the next decade.
- darig 5y ago
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- prvc 5y agoLegal?
- KatePhD 5y agoNo.
- philsnow 5y agoWell, they spent a ton on things like this https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/expanded-housing-guarantee-ucla-undergraduates https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/expanded-housing-guarante... so _somebody's_ gotta tighten their belt
- seanmcdirmid 5y agoAnd they will still get a ton of applications because of the prestige and CV building opportunities.
- liquidise 5y agoProbably off topic, but how can an institution prioritize the following 3 efforts simultaneously? 1. "The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer" 2. "It is the policy of the University to undertake affirmative action, consistent with its obligations as a federal contractor, for minorities and women" 3. "All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity..."
- hayd 5y agoIsn't affirmative action illegal in California?
- hackernewds 5y agoQuite the opposite
- colinmhayes 5y agoI believe the idea is that facing adversity makes it harder to achieve, and they're instrumenting on attributes that would cause people to face adversity. Those people may be better applicants even if they're not as accomplished because they had to fight harder so everything they've got. So I guess they're claiming they're not considering race... but using it to consider the adversity they've faced.
- xyzzyz 5y agoThis, of course, begs the question why don’t they directly ask about and consider the actual adversity people faced, instead of a roundabout way of using very weak statistical proxy for it. Even if they could not ask directly about adversity (which they can and do), they could use much better proxies, like, say, past household income. Why don’t they? The answer is, obviously, that the “adversity” is just an excuse, and they do in fact directly care about racial and sex composition of faculty and student body. Nobody’s fooled here, racial discrimination is the entire point of the exercise.
- Ansil849 5y agoHow is this legal? Not a rhetorical question. I genuinely would like an explanation of how you can legally post "Applicants must understand there will be no compensation for this position" in a job posting, when minimum wage laws dictate the minimum wage that can be paid for employment. Specifically, in California [1]: > Although there are some exceptions, almost all employees in California must be paid the minimum wage as required by state law. The 'exceptions' are for learners (those with little experience), the mentally ill, and the disabled, which all have different wage laws (none of which allow any of those groups to be employed for free either). [1] https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_minimumwage.htm https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_minimumwage.htm
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- heartofadog 5y agoIt isn't of course. It's patently illegal. As well as just plain slimy and awful. Which is what makes this episode so juicy. First the language was not in the least ambiguous -- the post means exactly what it says. And from the fact someone (if not multiple people) not just at PhD level, but reasonably high up the totem pole in that department must have signed up on post.
- heartofadog 5y ago"signed off on that post" - sorry.
- bennysomething 5y agoWhat about volunteer work? Has that been banned?
- Ansil849 5y agoVolunteers are exempted from minimum wage requirements. But there is nothing in this job posting indicating that this is for a volunteer position.
- tgv 5y agoIt might be another way to graft onto external financing, like having a department's chair financed by some company. This will of course lead to undesirable consequences, but for some time now, university boards only seem interested in real estate and funds.
- lvs 5y ago
- guard0g 5y agoThis is how American higher education gets hallowed out by opportunistic administrators that have carved out high-paying jobs in the non-profit sector.
- thrw3747433 5y agoI was actually neogtiating with my university-employer to _get_ such a job. Why you ask? Research is my thing, I can win grants which easily allow me to pay my own salary, hopefully til retirement. I just need the affiliation to be able to apply for many grants. In my case the employer actually declined, because of the risks involved with German job security laws (it may have put me in a position to sue for a paid position after some time).
- phnofive 5y agoI had no idea that grants could be directed towards staff costs - is that common? Is there some sort of review board that can check this?
- Nullabillity 5y agoI believe it's a pretty common thing to do to use (some of the) grant money to "buy your time back" from the university (where the expectation would otherwise be that you do 100% teaching).
- dioxide 5y agoSure can. I can get grants specifically to hire someone. As long as that's specified in the grant, and I can prove that's what I did with the money, there's no issue. Non-profit in this circumstance, rather than education.
- throwaway81523 5y agoDo they still have privatdozents in Germany? I remember an article by Hermann Weyl about that system. It was motivated by academic freedom: because the privatdozents weren't employees of the State, the government couldn't tell them what to do, and (somehow) the government also couldn't tell the professors who they could appoint as privatdozents. Becoming a privatdozent made you eligible to lecture at the university, so it meant the professors rather than the government were in charge of who was allowed to teach classes. That apparently wouldn't have worked if the privatdozents got any salary. They instead charged tuition directly to the students. But, it doesn't sound like this UCLA slot allows that.
- IncRnd 5y agoRequirement: Ph.D. in chemistry, biochemistry, or equivalent discipline and have significant experience and strong record in teaching chemistry or biochemistry at the college level. Position: Unpaid Intern to teach classes
- arpinum 5y agoI remember a department head telling me they got offers constantly from people willing to be an adjunct for free. Why? Because it would boost their credentials when doing other work and consulting. The math is easy to figure out: if you spend 75 hours a year as an adjunct to increase your day rate by $100, then your time as an adjunct is worth up to $250 / hr.
- KatePhD 5y agoThis is not an adjunct position.
- wayfarer1291 5y agoThis is most likely for someone at UCLA on sabbatical to have an affiliation. Some evidence it might be someone fleeing Ukraine and is being externally funded by a foundation directly as a fellowship. UC policy requires even direct onboarding like this to be posted as a 'job'. Bureaucracy..
- KatePhD 5y agoIf people are referring to the UCLA job posting of March 4, 2022 for an assistant adjunct professor in chemistry and biochemistry with no compensation - I have no idea how HR approved this. It is a violation of minimum wage laws, and the UCLA faculty contract. As a CA college professor I'd like to respond to some of the misconceptions in the replies: Sabbatical leave faculty are compensated. A fellowship is a paid position. Unpaid positions are not created for refugees. Faculty do not teach courses "for fun." It is a job. It is NOT extremely common in academia. I've been a college professor for over 25 years and have never heard of advertising an unpaid faculty position. It is outrageous. This is not a "volunteer position." There is no such thing as unpaid "volunteer" faculty. Faculty in the medical school and other areas may have research grants to cover their appointments. However, this position requires teaching without pay. That is a violation of the UCLA Faculty Association collective bargaining agreement.
- jeremy3o966 5y ago