Re: Letters of Reccomendation -Reply

[csjhs@eiu.edu (Jeanne H. Simpson)]

Kelly

I've not seen much of anything in the Chronicle about this issue, which
leads me to suspect that either it is a very recent turn of events or that
it is a localized issue.

However....   Having served on more than one search committee and thereby
having seen glowing letters that turned out to have the hidden agenda of
getting rid of someone who hadn't done anything to merit dismissal but who
was nevertheless annoying, tiresome, or otherwise troublesome, I know tht
I tend to look at recommendations with considerable care and skepticism.

Those of us who get asked to write them have a professional and ethical
obligation, I think, to be very careful about what we say.  To avoid
hyperbole and to make the circumstances under which we have known the
person very clear.  To be specific about what we have seen the person do.
To decline to give recommendations if we are not able to do these things.

And when we ask for a recommendation to be careful about who writes them
for us.  

Jeanne Simpson
csjhs@eiu.edu