Ethics

Are spousal hires at tax-payer funded institutions (such as government agencies and public universities) unethical?

Comments

Why just tax-payer funded institutions? Such hires presumably discriminate against other applicants or would-be applicants for jobs taken by the spouse and this is true regardless of the nature of the institution. On the other hand, they might increase the staffing in particular departments beyond the levels they would otherwise achieve, and this is not problematic. It hardly matters to an institution if there are one or two more or less faculty in particular departments.

For the spouse who accompanies the new hire that the university really wants to be hired acceptably he or she would need to be at least as good as any other applicant for the post to which he or she is appointed. The problem arises when as is often the case it is suspected that this is not really the case.

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