joanna bujes wrote:
>
> It was definitely a buyers
> market; and so far as I know it still is. They can pick anyone they want
> for whatever reason they care to offer.
>
A book titled _The Academic Marketplace_ appeared in the early 1960s. Probably anyone interested in this general topic should look it up. The authors interviewed hiring committees and dept. heads in many different campuses. The reasons for hiring or not hiring particular candidates were both hilarious and disheartening. More often than not the reasons could be labelled "whimsey."
Carrol