Enclosed are copies of the new search form that must accompany any faculty new appointment recommendation form.

Princeton University seeks to attract the ablest individuals as students, faculty and staff. In addition, the University has specific legal obligations as a federal contractor to develop and implement an affirmative action plan to recruit, hire, and promote women, persons of color, persons with disabilities, and disabled and Vietnam-era veterans. Departments are required to run open searches and to advertise widely in order to attract qualified applicants in these categories. They must maintain records documenting efforts to produce a diverse pool of candidates. The purpose of this form is to document the department's good-faith efforts to comply with the University's equal opportunity/affirmative action policies.

It may be helpful to include here some comments about these forms and some general information about searches and search procedures, to anticipate some of the questions that may occur to you. Before doing so, though, let me remind you that all searches need prior approval from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty. As usual, we will have preliminary discussions late in the spring or early in the fall to review proposed searches in the light of departmental staffing budgets and possible start-up costs, before the searches are approved. This office is available to help in all of your recruitment efforts. If you have any questions about search procedures or about affirmative action requirements, please feel free to contact the Office of the Dean of the Faculty.

No search is required if the appointee is a visitor from another institution, a current member of the University's administrative or professional library, research or technical staffs, or an unenrolled Princeton Ph.D. candidate serving as a lecturer for no more than two years.

Otherwise a modified search procedure is required even for appointments of 50% or less duty time for less than a year. The University has a legal obligation to make local employment services aware of such openings. We will assist you in developing pools of candidates who may be interested in serving as lecturers for short-term teaching assignments. Our joint efforts should facilitate the timely identification of qualified candidates for part-time and temporary faculty positions.

The regular search procedures, described next, apply to all searches for any faculty appointment of 50% or more duty time for strictly more than a year (that is, for three semesters or more).

You must be certain to advertise for all positions for which a search is required, and to advertise sufficiently widely to make an effective effort to attract a diverse group of candidates of the position. If specific minimum qualifications or special credentials are listed in the advertisements, appointments can be made only of individuals who fulfill these requirements; if there are no such individuals, the department must open another search before an appointment can be made. It is important to keep and maintain the information requested about pools of candidates in the files of the department for a period of at least three years; you should keep records that distinguish between the broadest pool of candidates identified through any means whatsoever and the more restricted pools of those candidates considered most seriously of interviewed.

The category "candidates interviewed" should include all those interviewed either in person or by telephone, and either on campus or off campus, for instance, at a professional meeting. The category "candidates invited for an interview" is included particularly to reflect any candidates whom you have pursued, but who have declined the opportunity for an interview. If the pools of candidates considered most seriously do not reflect the diversity of the broader pools, or more generally the diversity of the pool of individuals who fulfill the requirements of the position as advertised, an explanation should be provided.

Candidates cannot be required to identify their race or gender; you should provide the information to be best of your ability to do so, or enter the numbers in the "unknown" column if you cannot determine the information. The reasons for selecting the proposed candidate and the comparisons with the best qualified minority or female candidate should be sufficiently detailed to justify the appointment.

If in the course of a search the department identifies a candidate who does not fulfill the specific minimum qualifications or special credentials for the search, but who qualifies for appointment under an affirmative action program or is a clearly exceptional target of opportunity, the chair may request that this additional appointment be approved with a separate formal search. Such a request must be accompanied by a detailed justification for the appointment, addressing the impact of the appointment on searches currently being undertaken by the department.

If a search is undertaken for a number of appointments, it is sufficient to submit the same search form for all of the candidates for appointment; but the information requested in items 5 and 6 of the search report form should accompany the appointment form for each individual candidate recommended.

The forms must be signed by the departmental affirmative action compliance officer and the chair of the department, indicating that these individuals attest that the search and selection process complied with University policies.

Last revised: September, 1994