Re: Letters of Reccomendation -Reply

[typapay@Rollins.Edu]

Jeanne, I love the clear professionalism of this sentence.  We need as
faculties to adopt such statements, I think.  And students need to see
them.  Anyone have such a thing!  I printed up Jeanne's piece and think
I'll invite the peer consultants to revise it for informing students of
policy--if some of the faculty were interested.

twila
typapay@rollins.edu


On Tue, 4 Feb 1997, Jeanne H. Simpson wrote:

> 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
>