A Growing College Rivalry: The Fight for Faculty Stars

George Mason University officials could not shout loud enough when economist Vernon L. Smith won the Nobel Prize in 2002. Smith's recruitment a year earlier had shone a welcome light on the school, and the award was a crowning bonus.

Today, GMU is quiet, as Smith has slipped away for a job in California, lured by the same administrator who brought him to GMU.

Some universities play down faculty member moves, calling them part of the recruitment process in higher education. Others refer to many of the raids on star faculty members by competing universities as poaching or outright theft.

"Top-talent people who are happy and successful and thriving as academicians are free agents," said Mark S. Wrighton, chancellor at Washington University in St. Louis. "Imagine being manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, a World Series-class team, and every one of your players is always in free agency."

Dealmaking is constant, delicate and increasingly competitive as schools hunt for ways to attract top educators and keep their own stars from straying. The benefits to playing the faculty shuffle are many; academic prestige and grant money often come with new recruits, said David Ward, president of the nonprofit American Council on Education and a former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

But there can be costs, too. Some superstars bring their name and reputation, but that doesn't necessarily mean they want to mingle with students or peers. Even a Nobel can come with a caveat: Many are awarded the prize long after their most productive research days. (Although, as Ward noted dryly, having one is superior to not having one.)

And at some schools, the hunt for superstars -- who are offered big money and lavish housing -- can leave homegrown scholars feeling unappreciated.

That was how Siva Vaidhyanathan, a young tenured faculty member at New York University, said he felt. NYU, according to David Kirp in his book "Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line," took a page from Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and went on a shopping spree to buy the best faculty available. Vaidhyanathan left NYU and has just finished his first semester teaching at the University of Virginia, where his pioneering work on digital copyright made him a fine catch.

"These days academia is a lot more like the crazy private sector, in that you are punished for loyalty and consistency and truly only rewarded if you act as a mercenary free agent," Vaidhyanathan said.

NYU Vice President John Beckman said he could not discuss the specific case but said the college wished Vaidhyanathan well. He also said it was unfair to judge a school on the complaints of one person.

In some cases, one school's average Joe is another school's star. Small liberal arts colleges prize great teachers who can connect with students and are committed to building a career there; big research universities want big-time researchers with a knack for winning grants.

Identifying potential recruits can be extraordinarily calculated. A school will decide to reinforce a department. A target is approached, sometimes surreptitiously. An offer is made. Incentives are dangled.