A recent PhD graduate of Penn, reacting to the recent posting on the losses of junior faculty Rahul Kumar and Ulrike Heuer and to the fact that the University frequently rejects the tenure recommendations of the Philosophy Department, writes:

“Rahul Kumar’s departure is a huge loss to Penn’s philosophy department. He was the sole member of the faculty who specialized in contemporary ethical theory and he has an excellent reputation among those who work in that field. What is especially aggravating about Kumar’s loss, from the perspective of someone who cares about the future of the department, is that it comes on the heels of other significant losses: Jay Wallace, Gary Ebbs, Lisa Downing, Richard Samuels and Tom Ricketts have all left Penn over just the past few years. With the exception or Ricketts, all of those losses were junior faculty when they left Penn. The University has simply failed to retain its promising junior faculty in philosophy, and this is due in large measure, directly or indirectly, to the University’s [not the department’s] draconian tenure practices. Kumar is just the latest victim. And the cumulative effect of the University’s decision in his case, combined with its legendarily bad track record in tenure decisions in philosophy, is having a predictable chilling effect: Ulrike Heuer’s departure is a case in point. What reason is there to stay at Penn as a junior faculty member knowing that the University will treat you badly and hold you to irrational and/or mysterious standards? The University will soon make it impossible for the Philosophy Department to recruit top-flight junior faculty.”