STAFF EDITORIAL: Mixed recruitment results

While Penn has succeeded in revitalizing the Chemistry Department, hiring for Political Science is falling short. At the time, Dean Beeman told The Daily Pennsylvanian that his goal was to have five new Political Science professors on campus for the 1999 fall semester. And in October, Chemistry Department administrators indicated that they intended to make two to three hires over the course of the year. Now, with both deadlines upon us, it is time to take stock. First, the good. Outpacing its own expectations, the Chemistry Department has hired four new professors this year. All involved deserve credit for a job well done. Unfortunately, hiring efforts for the long-troubled Political Science Department have fallen short. Three new professors have come aboard over the past year -- John Dilulio, Jerome Maddox and Robert Vitalis -- and all three are important and welcome additions. But that leaves the department two hirings short of Beeman's target. This is not just a matter of failing to achieve self-imposed goals. For a department that is "50 percent smaller than we need to be," in the words of one Political Science professor, it is a question of adequacy. The department is simply not up to the standards of Political Science departments at peer institutions. Indeed, Department Chairperson Ian Lustick estimated last year that Poli Sci would need to hire three new professors for each of the next five years to reach desired staffing levels. Dean Preston agreed at the time that 10 to 11 new hirings would have to be made. To be sure, three hirings is a start, and a good one at that. But with all concerned parties agreed on the need to drastically improve the quality of the department, we expect that the College will redouble hiring efforts. Against the background of this mixed track record comes the need to hire four new English professors to fill vacancies left by recent high-level departures from the department. We applaud the College's quick decision to commit funding to recruiting the needed faculty and we hope that next fall will see a slew of new English and Political Science professors on campus.