When high school seniors apply to colleges and are not admitted, they are afforded the courtesy of a perfunctory rejection letter stating something like “Thank you for applying to the blah blah University. There were many qualified applicants…After completing a careful review of your application and supporting credentials, our Admissions Committee has concluded that we are unable to offer you acceptance to the university…”

However, apparently, when you spend nearly ten years of your life to get a Ph.D. and apply for tenure track positions, you no longer are worthy of this courtesy. I have been adjuncting in a mathematics department for the past four years. I applied for tenure track positions in this very department (three times) and actually interviewed for one of the positions. However, even after my interview, and even after working there for several years, the search committee didn’t feel the need to inform me that they had given the position to someone else.