0 0 0 0 0 2C Wednesday; January 4,2012 // The Staterent THE JUNK DRAWER Wednesday, January 4, 2012 // The Statement With letters of recommendation, an old tradition persists letter from the editors by dylan cinti and jennifer xu Stashu Kybartas is a senior lecturer in the University's Department of Screen Arts and Cultures. He usually teaches three classes a term and performs a number of other administrative duties. He teaches so much that he hasn't had time to pursue his own creative work. Kybartas has been at the University for 11years - but under current University policy, he'll never be eligible for tenure. Why is that? In this issue you'll read an article addressing this and other questions surrounding the complex and divisive issue of tenure at the University. It's an article that operates on both a micro and macro level, pairing very personal stories with broad data about the spectrum of tenure attainment at the University. While it may not provide definitive answers, the article will undoubtedly prompt some compelling questions. With investigative journalism, you have to look at the big picture in order to understand the small one, and vice versa. An article just about numbers lacks a human element, while an article comprised only of people's stories lacks a factual basis. Successful investigative journalism lies in the merging of these two factors and in the creation of something illuminating and accessible. As its name suggests, The Statement is geared toward the kind of hard-hitting coverage that will get people thinking and talking. For us, this means coverage that's backed up by evidence and interesting stories. So at the same time you read Kybartas's story, you'll discover that half of the Screen Arts and Cultures Department's faculty are lecturers like him, whereas only 16 percent for the entire College of Literature, Science and the Arts faculty is comprised of lecturers. But we live in a digital age, and so for us, investigative journalism extends beyond reporting and number-crunching and into the vast and ever-expanding realm of social media. Starting this semester we're introducing The Tangent, a blog that will supplement our main stories with videos and behind- the-scenes peeks into how articles came to fruition. Additionally, we're introducing polling on our stories, so that you can voice feedback to articles with the click of a button. We also have a Twitter, so that discussions that start here can continue online. It will all come full circle when we compile reader comments, poll feedback and tweets and publish them on these pages. We're looking to you to help us make a statement. tweets of the week #kimjongil Jim Gaffigan Kim Jung II died. I call his sunglasses. '9 D nc ................ ..... .. . ............. . ..... ... .. .................... ........ ..... _.............. _... ........ ........... -.... .. .. ........ ...... ........... . . .. ... .. ..... .. . ... .. .. ....... . ......... .. Very Rude Tweets e ryvude Iweet s Kim Jong II apparently died of "pancreatic cancer"...or "karma" as the rest of the World calls it. ..8 Dy C. 0-0 Trevor S :trcvso e ect ri "Don't stop bereaving..." -Kim Jong II's final instructions for the nation Adrian Chen /frnch d r ni FYI, Kim Jong-un is adding you all to his "To Kill" list for these tweets. status update: joseph lichterman by jennifer xu michigan daily editor in chief Who's your favorite movie character? Ferris Bueller. He was, and still is, the epitome of cool. What are you currently reading? "Three and Out," John U. Bacon's behind-the-scenes book on the RichRod era. It's a fascinating look at how this University really works. Do you have any guilty pleasures? I secretly like any movie with Rachel McAdams in it. It's weird. Describe a really good meal you recently had in Ann Arbor. I love any meal at Zingerman's. The pickles are the best part. Old and garlicy is the way to go. by Jacob Axelrad John Rubadeau writes more than 100 letters of recommenda- tion each year. The senior lec- turer in the English Department says he writes such a high number because of the close relationships he builds with students, allowing him to write letters that reflect students' personalities instead of canned assessments of candi- dates. But at a university with more than 20,000 undergraduates, finding that ideal reference letter that says something genuine can be difficult. Chemistry Lecturer Kathleen Nolta acknowledged this diffi- culty, admitting she doesn't know all of the students who request recommendation letters from her. Still, she said she sympa- thizes with these students, many of whom will apply to medical school after leaving her class. "I will not refuse to write for any student because some of them are only in large classes, so for those students, it's almost impossible to get to know their professors," she said. If just obtaining a reference letter is hard, then it is even more difficult for a student to receive a recommendation that sets him or her apart from the crowd. Such obstacles beg the question as to whether the system of reference letters is still effective to our gen- eration. The lowdown on getting a letter Obtaining a letter begins with the Reference Letter Ser- vice at the University's Career Center. Every year, about 6,000 new letters are processed and 10,000 student files are sent to employers and graduate schools, according to the Career Center's website. A student opens a file with the RLS for a fee of $25. In turn, rec- ommenders submit one copy of the student's letter to the RLS, which is maintained for five years after the file is first opened. As long as students have a file, they can request that their letters be sent to any employer or gradu- ate school of their choice. Upon requesting a letter, stu- dents can choose to waive their right to view the letter, giving the writer greater reign to say what he or she really thinks about an applicant. Yet Linguistics Prof. Robin Queen said in recent years, letters of recommendation have been demonstrated to be artifi- cially enthusiastic, presenting all applicants as though they were at the top of their class. "It's not the case that letters of recommendation really tell you, 'Here's the top two percent of candidates. Here's the top five percent. Here's the top 10 per- cent,' " she said. "They all tend to be, 'Everyone's in the top one percent.' " That can make it hard to dis- tinguish between candidates. Queen said the competitive nature of graduate school admis- sions creates a system in which anything less than the top cat- egory looks bad, a mentality that follows the increasing trend of inflation among undergraduate grades. "A C is actually an average grade," Queen said. "But stu- dents see a C as basically failing. So that same shift has happened in recommendation letters." Queen also said studies done by Profs. Frances Trix and Carolyn Psenka of Wayne State University have shown that both letter writers and letter readers may have unintentional cognitive biases, which could lead to negative repercussions for one applicant group over another. The paper, "Exploring the Color of Glass: Letters of Recom- mendation for Female and Male Medical Faculty," studied people applying for academic positions in medical schools. Recommend- ers talked about men's research abilities and women's teaching and nurturing abilities, indicating an unintentional gender bias. This goes for ethnicity as well as gen- der, Queen said. Those evaluating and reading letters and resumes may also har- bor an unintentional bias. She gave the example a differ- ent study done by professors at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology and the University of Chicago Graduate school of Business in which identical fake resumes were sent to employers, with the difference that one set had male names and the other had female names. The study showed that those with male names were more likely to be hired. This same study was replicated with ethnically marked names and stereotypically white names. The ethnically marked names got fewer callbacks than their generi- cally white counterparts. "The basic story there is that this is not an intentional bias exactly, but there is a kind of cultural bias around this kind of thing," Queen said. Are letters even relevant anymore? Many graduate and profes- sional schools require two to five letters with a combination of academic and non-academic sources. According to English Lec- turer Cody Walker, a former graduate . admissions officer, "hyperbole is the order of the day" when it comes to letters, so admissions committees must determine whether the recom- mender worked from a template or if something special about the student caught the professor's eye. Recommendation letters also don't enjoy the cachet they once did.. RLS supervisor Mariella Mecozzi explained that while letters are still important for graduate and professional school applications and jobs in aca- demia, they are not as important when it comes to other jobs. "Jobs can be very specific by nature," she said. She pointed out that a phone reference allows the employer to get the specific feedback they're looking for. "Your typical undergraduate student ... would be better advised to have three to five people that agree to speak on their behalf," Mecozzi said. The benefits of an old- fashioned letter For students, contacting teach- ers who may not even remembeF your face is uncomfortable and ineffective. And as a teacher, it may seem like a thankless task of writing letter after letter for stu- dents you could barely know. But for many at the University, letters do actually make a difP ference in the grand scheme of things. Though Nolta admits the pro- cess can be cumbersome, she said it's an essential component of a stu- dent's time as an undergraduate. "Is it an obstacle? Yes. Is it a good growth experience? Abso- lutely," she said, adding that it encourages interaction among teachers and students. LSA senior Alex Myong agrees. Applying to medical schools- Myong said he was forced to reach outside his comfort zone and make connections with pro- fessors he could have otherwise overlooked. "It kind of forces you to find professors who fill requirements instead of the professors you're closest with," Myong said. For Rubadeau, letters are vital. "That's the joy of life, to get to know people and become friends with people," Rubadeau said. "If I have a chance to help someone out in his or her career, then I'll help him or her out. And I enjoy that." Walker bemoaned the process but added that he finds satisfac- tion in writing letters. While a simple phone call could be quicker and easier, the act of writing - of actually sit- ting down with a student in mind and crafting a letter on his or her behalf - is a bonding experience for both the student and the prow fessor, Walker said. "Being about to do it, I hate," Walker said. "Having it in my cal- endar feels oppressive in the way that sitting down to write a Ph.D. dissertation felt oppressive. But actually doing it is usually kind of interesting and having done it is great." There's a pay-it-forward men- tality among professors across departments, Walker said. After all, none of them would be where they are today if it weren't for professors writing them letters. So the tradition persists. "I think there's some sense of ethical or karmic obligation to keep it going as long as it's still the, system," Walker said. Check out The Statement's blog, The Tangent, for additional graphs, interviews, links and a conversation with the cover story writer, updated throughout the week. Debuting soon!