STAFF EDITORIAL: Poli Sci Dept. on the skids

Another junior prof is leaving the department, illustrating Penn's failure to bolster its dwindling faculty ranks. Over the past two years, five senior professors have retired and two junior faculty members have left for greener pastures. But in the same period of time, however, only four new professors have been brought into the department. Now, another one of the department's rising stars has announced plans to leave Penn at the end of the semester. Political Science Department Chairpman Ian Lustick insists that the coming departure of JosZ Antonio Cheibub for Yale University is "not going to be a major problem." But if this isn't a major problem, we don't know what is. Two years ago, hopes were high for the department. Lustick envisioned hiring three new professors in each of the next five years, and SAS Dean Samuel Preston said he expected 10 or 11 new hires over the same time period. But the department is now actually smaller than it was in 1998. This is not the progress we expected, and officials have clearly failed to live up to their commitments. With every failed recruitment effort and every departed professor, the department's condition becomes that much more acute -- and the goal of a 30-person department falls further from reach. Two factors make us doubtful that Penn is committed to stopping the process of departmental atrophy. First, before Cheibub's announcement, the department only had authorization to recruit one new junior faculty member. The aging department's growth will depend largely on its success in attracting new blood, but this does not appear to be a priority. Secondly, Yale has succeeded in its own recruitment efforts. Next semester will see the arrival of 10 new Political Science professors in New Haven -- Cheibub included -- not a mere one or two. Clearly, the talent is out there for the taking, and we are disappointed that a school with Penn's status has not brought these scholars and instructors to Stiteler Hall. Yale made a hard commitment to improve its Political Science faculty and did so in admirable fashion. Penn officials made the same commitment, yet have floundered miserably. This is a major problem, in spite of what officials say, and one that we hope is taken more seriously in the future.