ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some ethical issues associated with job offers in academia and how to handle them appropriately. In many parts of the world, December marks the season of giving, but in the academic world, January–April is the season of offering. When a department is hiring, candidate visits often start at the end of January and will run into February with the hope that an offer can be made and accepted by sometime at the end of February, but more realistically by sometime in March with delays letting negotiations bleed into early April. The material terms are the ones that, if changed, could also change the candidate's mind from accept to decline, from yes to no. Until the tenure review process is completed successfully, there is no tenured offer on the table for the candidate to consider nothing. The tenured faculty offer is contingent, an intent awaiting decisions out of the control of either the offeror or offeree.
