Harvard goes on a costly hiring spree
In January, it was Michael J. Klarman, a plum catch from the University of Virginia. The next month, Harvard Law School landed an even bigger prize, snagging renown legal scholar Cass Sunstein from the University of Chicago.
In March, Harvard took aim at its archrival in New Haven, coaxing Anne Alstott from Yale Law, where she taught taxation and social policy. Her appointment, Harvard law officials dryly noted, marked the 22d tenured or tenure-track professor the school had hired in the past five years.
This month, Elena Kagan, law school dean, announced the school had broadened its big-name hiring campaign to administration, tapping advancement professional Steven Oliveira as dean for development and alumni relations.
But while Harvard cranked out press releases touting the triumphs, the law school's student paper The Record took delight in tweaking them. In an Onion-esque news story titled "Dean Kagan Hires Every Law Professor in the County," the paper noted that "the new additions will cause the law school's faculty payroll to balloon from $30 million to $9 billion," but that Kagan was unconcerned.
"This university has upwards of 40 billion kazillion dollars," the satire read. "Also, we'll just hit up some alumni."
Harvard Law School spokesman Mike Armini was happy to play along, jesting that Harvard's hiring binge had just begun.
"Why stop there?" he quipped. "Law is increasingly connected to so many other fields, so we'll be raiding the business and medical schools next."
UVM steps up: For the past few months, it has mainly been the deep-pocketed, high-priced colleges unveiling heavy tuition breaks for low- and middle-income families. But last week, the University of Vermont, a school of more modest means, joined their ranks by announcing it will cover the full cost of college for in-state undergraduates from low-income families.
Starting this fall, the state university will offer grants and scholarships covering tuition and fees to students who qualify for Pell Grants, a federal income-based aid program. About 150 freshmen from Vermont, or about 25 percent of all entering students from the state, typically qualify for the program.
The new initiative will cost about $750,000 when fully implemented in four years. The university already spends $12 million in financial aid for in-state undergraduates.
College officials hope the new initiative will attract more low-income students who had assumed college was beyond their means.
"The sticker price of higher education, and the prospect of loans, can be very intimidating," said Chris Lucier, the university's vice president for enrollment management.
Vermont's tuition and fees total almost $13,000 a year, and only about one-quarter of students in a typical incoming class come from Vermont.
For colleges, financial aid initiatives are a matter of self-interest. With the number of high school graduates projected to decline in the next few years, colleges need to step up recruiting efforts among teenagers who are traditionally less likely to attend college to broaden its pool of prospective students.
"We need to send a message that higher education is not out of reach," Lucier said.
UMass-Amherst finalists: The four finalists for the University of Massachusetts at Amherst chancellorship wrapped up their campus visits Friday, daylong interviews that included meetings with faculty, staff, students, and administrators, culminating in an hourlong "open campus" meeting for all-comers.
Jack M. Wilson, president of the University of Massachusetts, plans to choose a candidate as soon as this week, but interested parties still have time to voice their opinion at massachusetts.edu/amherstsearch/process.html.
The university's board of trustees will then vote on Wilson's recommendation in the coming weeks.
The finalists, chosen after a lengthy and wide-ranging search, are Martin Hall, deputy vice chancellor of the University of Cape Town in South Africa; Robert C. Holub, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the Knoxville campus of the University of Tennessee; Harris Pastides, vice president for research and health sciences at the University of South Carolina; and Satish K. Tripathi, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
The new chancellor will replace Thomas W. Cole Jr., who has assumed the position on an interim basis since September.
Campus Insider runs on alternate Sundays with Ask the Teacher, an advice column. To submit tips to Campus Insider, e-mail Peter Schworm at schworm@globe.com.
