Isn’t Marital Status a Protected Class?
I’m back on the market this year (/me knocks wood) and I’ve been trying not to get very ranty about it. And then I run across this listing:
Couples who have obtained PhDs in the last 18 months are invited to apply for three-year VIGRE Dual-Postdoctoral Fellowship postions.
I know I’m not a lawyer, but isn’t marital status (or, if it’s more general, “couplehood”) an EEO protected class? I mean, if I get kicked off a shortlist so someone else can solve a two-body problem, that’s already annoying enough to my career. But now there’s a position that I’m not even allowed to apply to because I’m single? Even if the cycle is harder for married couples, that’s a choice they made, knowing that it might adversely affect them down the road. I haven’t even been offered that choice to make, and here I am being excluded because someone else did.
If it weren’t the University of Utah, I’d be really angry about this.
All that aside (or perhaps not…
good luck with the job hunt.
Thanks. And talk me up! I’ve got an application in there!
I understand your point, although I feel for the other side too, having lived through some of the hardships the two-body problem can impose (very soon after I got married, I was separated from my wife by a distance of close to 10000 miles; it was pretty tough going for a few years).
I wish you all the best in your search.
Todd, I hear that and I completely understand that it would look somewhat different if I were part of couple. But still, it’s not like every got to make a choice and the job prefers one. If I chose being single that would change things.
Maybe this is specific to Utah. It is quite common for Utahns (read Mormons) to get married by the time they are 21, or at least there is “pressure” to get married as soon as possible. And so, UofU is probably just trying to help married couples (who have finished their Phds) from Utah. Of course, this doesn’t preclude married non-Utahns from getting the post-doctoral fellowship positions. But I would think mostly Utahns would benefit from such fellowships. Anyway, this is just a wild guess though. I am probably completely wrong!
I’m sure it’s also common for them not to be gay. So why not have a slot set aside that only straight people can apply for?
Good point! But I am not sure if the sarcasm was directed at me or UofU’s policy.
Not really sarcasm. I’m drawing an analogy — something I’m sort of good at, and the basis of the Common Law doctrine of stare decisis.
Thanks so much for the above links! That’s exactly the kind of literature/writing I am always looking for when studying mathematics. They help motivate me tremendously in studying the subject. And, to add to your point regarding analogies and analogies of analogies, it was Stanislaw Ulam who, I think, famously said, “Great scientists see analogies between theorems or theories. The very best ones see analogies between analogies.”
The question of being a married couple can be looked at from a different perspective. Several places worldwide (don’t know if there are such places in US) have written or unwritten policies of denying employment to married couples in the same Department, citing potential conflict of interest etc etc.
As far as couples are concerned, I don’t think it needs any reminders to how many mathematical careers were (half)ruined by attempts to solve the 2-body problems.
I can only count myself in – changed continents in order to be to the other half (we worked in the same field, wrote few papers together, etc), had to abandon this major line of research when repeated attempts to solve the 2-body question failed, and I had to get over this whole thing.
As a matter of fact, couples can be extremely productive mathematically. I don’t see anything wrong with a humble initiative to help them out. At the moment couples are even more disadvantaged as women and other minorities…
Dima, I know that life is also difficult for couples. But again, a couple forms knowing that it will have repercussions on other areas of their lives. So I’m supposed to be excluded from this position because of decisions some other pair of people made?
I know that some departments have such policies, but most I’ve seen try to be accommodating if possible. In practice, this means that each member of a couple actually gets two applications for the price of one: once as an applicant and once as the spouse of an applicant. And woe betide the next one down on the shortlist who gets bumped to make room for a non-shortlisted spouse.
And all this is on top of the facts that
(a) Various classes are considered protected for purposes of employment under various US laws, and I’m pretty sure marital status is among them. If you can’t refuse someone a job because they’re married (or have children, or other family situations) then you can’t refuse a job because they’re single.
(b) Not only is this covered by general employment law, but the funding of this position — these positions — is covered in large part by a VIGRE grant administered through the National Science Foundation. This brings another whole slew of regulations and restrictions to bear.
The upshot: here is a position paid for by United States government funds that is explicitly unavailable to un-”coupled” persons. I’m not saying that the pro- side of the argument has nothing in its favor, but given that I’m struggling enough in the job market already, it’s not surprising that I’ll find this a burden.
“marriages might be concluded in Heaven, but appointments are most certainly made in Hell” (c) me, circa 1998
PS. We are hiring. Apparently, we don’t hire couples, so you therefore will get a preferential treatment as a single. Deal?
“marriages might be concluded in Heaven, but appointments are most certainly made in Hell” (c) me, circa 1998
Good luck with the job hunt.
I don’t know why couples need to be protected, unless its gay couples; seems strange.
Marital status is not a protected class under federal law, but in many states, it is. California and Oregon are two that I know of. I would guess that Utah is not, given the social climate. Good luck!
Thanks, Eve, but luck does not seem to be with me thus far :/