Merit or Mob? Students Provide Input On Hiring Theology Professors

Fordham University’s theology department has recently begun inviting students to interview candidates that are being considered for roles as professors. While it is an unorthodox take on hiring practices, whether the move is right or not is up for debate. Currently, Fordham has a total of 28 individuals who make up the department’s professors, associate professors, and other faculty.

This tally does not include “Faculty Emeriti,” which raises the overall number of affiliated individuals in the theology department to 40 total. This list of individuals who have taught, lectured or have been involved with the theology department must be two things: first, renowned, esteemed and elite experts in faith, tradition and history that date back thousands of years, and second, battle-tested individuals who have gone through screening processes, interviews, reviews and other common steps in hiring practices that specifically demonstrate that they are the best candidate for their job. After both of these key aspects are demonstrated, it is then that professors are able to teach.



Put yourself in a professor’s shoes and ask yourself how you would respond if you were told that one of your interviews for a job was being delegated to college-aged students. Think about if you were going through the rounds of hiring and had come up with ideas to energize the department you want to work for; have considered new insights or experience you can offer; and are ready to pitch ideas that will benefit the university’s community. After you’ve prepared all of this, you check in with reception, wait your turn as you see people come and go through the office, and finally, hear your name called and are invited into an interview room.

But how might this change if you know students are interviewing you? Students, who if you get the job you’re seeking, you could teach at some point. Most applicants would step-up to bring their A-game to wow the students. Some could use an age-gap to take authority in the interview.

Others could even shrug the interview off as an insult to them and withdraw themselves as an applicant. Understandably, there are benefits to having students interview candidates for openings. It is no secret that students care about who teaches them.

If students didn’t care, there would be no use for RateMyProfessor. Overall, RateMyProfessor ranks Rose Hill’s overall quality as an institution at 3.8/5.

0. For Lincoln Center, it is slightly worse, standing at 3.6/5.

0. While these rankings depend on student reviews relating to topics of overall opportunities, happiness, facilities, location, internet and dining options, these overall ranks might be higher, lower or at par with how some students view and feel about Fordham. The point is that these rankings are subjective.

While still considering RateMyProfessor, there are a listed 2,390 total professors with reviews from students at Fordham. Out of these reviews, students judge professors on the layout of their syllabus, how being in class feels to them, whether or not there is homework, how many tests are scheduled for the semester and the overall rigor of classes. These considerations go on, and on.

But the ideal professor to some isn’t necessarily the ideal professor to others, or everyone for that matter. Priorities for students simply differ too much. Some students look for professors who require very little attentiveness to a class from week-to-week, but bank entire grades in a course on exams.

Other students look for professors who keep them actively engaged and make less-exciting topics captivating. Some students are also just prone to strongly disliking some classes they might have to take, whether due to disinterest in a subject, or outside factors in their life; some could use RateMyProfessor as an outlet to take out their frustrations. In these situations, professors won’t win no matter what they try, and some students might avoid taking a class due to a negative review.

Subjectivity is the problem. In March 2023, InsideHigherED reported that students focus on aspects and factors that professors bring with them to class, ranging from “teaching styles,” “overly difficult materials or exams,” “school-life balance,” “unclear expectations” and “mental health.” It’s very unlikely that any of these priorities have changed in students.

Go back to putting yourself in that interview room. The impression you might have on student-interviewers can be based on prior professors or prior experiences that student-interviewers have had in college, including the good, bad and in-between. For candidates who read the room, they might over-promise in the interview to get the students excited about them.

For those who don’t, they could face the consequence of student-interviewers comparing them to the latter, making it a clear choice of who to recommend. Beyond that, students shouldn’t be the ones who have a say in who teaches them. That is why we have registration; that is when we have our say.

We should leave it to department heads to consider applicants. They are the ones who generally hold professors accountable, and set expectations for departments, not students. Students are not prepared for roles in helping hire professors.

Gen-Z students struggle in interviews themselves. Half of employers claim Gen Z candidates struggle with eye contact. 29% of Gen Z workers say interviewing is their biggest challenge.

60% of employers also credit Gen Z as unprepared for the workforce. Departments know better than to put students and candidates who might already be in an awkward position in one that is more-so. Students attend Fordham to learn, not to be administrators.

Michael Duke, GSB ’26, is a business administration major from Scottsdale, Ariz..