Addendum to

               *Concerns of Young Mathematicians*
                       Volume 2   Issue 1
                        January 5, 1994

The following item was accidentally omitted from this week's issue of
Concerns of Young Mathematicians. We apologize for any inconvenience
and ask you to read and respond.


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Hiring Practices Petition: C. Bennett & S. Kennedy

The AMS Council is considering the adoption of a position paper critical
of one-year appointments and other exploitative hiring practices. This
paper is appended. This position paper has been approved by the AMS's
Committee on the Profession and awaits approval by the Council, which
will consider it at the Cincinnati meetings. We are quite excited that
the AMS is taking this step and suspect that many of you are also. We
would like to demonstrate to the Council that there is support for this
position in the mathematical community and, therefore, would like to
collect as many signatures as possible on a petition calling for adoption
of this position paper. We also would like to see the MAA and SIAM adopt
this, or a similar, position and, therefore, are collecting signatures
for a petition to each of these societies. The text for these petitions
appears below. Please consider adding your voice to ours by sending e-mail
to ymn@stolaf.edu, include your full name (preferably, as it appears in the
Combined Membership List) and a list of the societies to which you belong.
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	Petition to the Council of the American Mathematical Society

We, the undersigned members of the American Mathematical Society, wish to urge 
the Council of the AMS to adopt as policy the document titled, "Supportive
Practices and Ethics in the Employment of Young Mathematicians."

% The text of the MAA and SIAM petitions is identical, except for the obvious
% substitutions.

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		SUPPORTIVE PRACTICES AND ETHICS IN THE
		  EMPLOYMENT OF YOUNG MATHEMATICIANS

1. For several years now, there have been substantially fewer
   Ph.D.-level positions available in Mathematics than qualified
   applicants.  (See, e.g., the report of the AMS Task Force on
   Employment reviewed in the AMS Notices, Oct. 1992, pp. 820--821, and
   the 1993 survey of new doctorates, AMS Notices, Nov. 1993, p. 1164).
   The disparity between supply and demand has caused severe
   difficulties for some recent Ph.D.'s.  There is no indication 
   that the situation will ease significantly in the near future.

	  It is incumbent on Mathematics departments to make all 
	  their potential Ph.D.'s aware of the realities of the 
          job market and to encourage them to prepare for a broad 
          range of jobs in the mathematical sciences.

2. The early post-Ph.D. years are crucial in career development.  
   Departments have a responsibility to promote such development.  
   Employment practices should conform to this principle.

   The systematic use of one-year appointments to fill regular teaching
   positions has the potential for exploitation of those holding
   such positions.  Young mathematicians in one-year terminal positions
   with full teaching loads must, in addition to carrying out their
   duties and trying to establish their own scholarly program, begin
   again searching for a job almost immediately after settling in---a
   concentration of pressures which will almost certainly have adverse
   effects on professional growth and morale.

   While some one-year positions are professionally beneficial, many
   others can be rationalized by institutions only on grounds of fiscal
   expediency or charity.

          Employers should strenuously seek means to devise better
          situations for recent Ph.D.'s. Whenever possible, positions 
          should be offered for at least two years.

3.  Although many institutions are under severe financial pressure, this 
    should not be used as an excuse for exploitation.  In particular, the 
    practice of hiring unemployed Ph.D.'s by the course, without integrating 
    them into the scholarly life of the department, is seriously detrimental 
    to the individuals and the profession.

          As a rule, for Mathematics departments to hire unemployed 
          Ph.D.'s part-time at substandard salaries is reprehensible 
          exploitation. It demeans the profession.

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Curtis Bennett
cbennet@andy.bgsu.edu

Steve Kennedy
kennedy@stolaf.edu
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