JANET FORREST: OVER PAID OR UNDER VALUED?

Abstract

Fred Monfort, Chairman of the Marketing Department at Regents State University, had filled one of two tenure-track faculty positions for the next academic year, but late in the spring he had no acceptable candidates for the other. David Jewett, a faculty colleague who headed the recruiting committee, suggested that Monfort consider hiring Janet Forrest, one of their advanced doctoral students for the position. Monfort was initially startled by the suggestion that the Department hire an advanced doctoral student in their program who held a one-year appointment as instructor. Monfort thought “hiring your own” was clearly outside the norms of good academic practice. Upon further exploration and thought, Monfort was persuaded that rehiring Forrest for another year would make sense for the Department and fit Forrest’s personal need to remain in the area for the next year. After Monfort negotiated an agreement acceptable to Forrest and submitted a hiring proposal to the University administration, the Office of Institutional Equity rejected the proposal, claiming that the recommended large pay increase was not justified and would worsen pay equity problems. Faced with the rejection of his solution to the faculty staffing shortage, Monfort struggled to find a solution to his problem.