I am a finalist for an assistant professor position at a public state university in Alaska. The university was on track to make an offer to their first choice this week. Last Friday, Alaska’s governor issued an Administrative Order freezing hiring for all ‘state agencies’. Does anyone have perspective on whether Alaska’s public universities are affected by this order? Or more generally, whether employees at public universities are considered ‘state employees’?
Thank you very much.
Comments
I’m not a lawyer. But according to the Alaska constitution, the University is “body corporate” meaning separate from its parent (i.e., the state). The governor should not have the ability to directly impact the University; but that doesn’t mean they won’t impose their own freeze.
In our state it does not necessarily mean the university will have a pause – but generally whatever the cause of the pause it could also be affectingn the university so they could be expected to.