The notion that unmarried candidates are being unfairly excluded from positions set aside for faculty spouses is as absurd as the old anti-feminist canard that working women steal jobs from deserving men. Many married candidates in fact turn down jobs to remain with their spouses, freeing up spaces for mobile or unattached individuals. Our own situation is a case in point. We met and married as postdocs at Harvard where we each wrote a book now being published by a major university press.
Smart people tend to marry smart people.
Smart universities are just beginning to recognize this. To criticize their efforts at spousal hiring is simply inhumane. Academics give up private-sector salaries and any control over where they live for the privilege of practicing their craft. They shouldn't have to give up the very possibility of a family life as well. Prof. and Asst.