AVRonaldo wrote:
The board of a state university is considering a proposed policy that would greatly increase the amount of research professors are required to publish each year, saying it will improve the output and visibility of the university. This policy would, unlike previous research policies, only be applied to faculty hired after its adoption, so it is surprising that the university's current professors are protesting against it.
Which of the following, if true, would best explain the opposition of current professors to the proposed policy change?
(A) Under the current policy, professors at the state university are not required to increase the amount of research they publish each year.
(B) In order to maintain their status at the university and earn salary bonuses, faculty must match the research output of their colleagues.
(C) The quality of research that professors publish each year does not necessarily result in improved status among their colleagues.
(D) Other state universities have their own research requirements—in some cases, quite a bit above the standards of this university—for certain areas of study.
(E) Liberal Arts professors make up the majority of the university's professors, and are currently required to publish a significantly greater amount of research than professors in the Sciences.
Responding to a pm:
It is an explain the paradox question.
Proposal: greatly increase the amount of research professors are required to publish but only for new hires
Situation: university's current professors are protesting against it
Here we have a paradox. Though the policy applies to only new hires, current professors are protesting against it. We need to find an option that explains why the policy may adversely impact the current professors too.
(B) In order to maintain their status at the university and earn salary bonuses, faculty must match the research output of their colleagues.
This option tells us that faculty must match the research output of their colleagues for bonuses. In case the new hires need to publish more research, the current professors will also need to increase their research output to get bonuses. This explain why the current professors are protesting against implementing the new proposal.
(A) Under the current policy, professors at the state university are not required to increase the amount of research they publish each year.
Current policy is irrelevant. We are talking about revising it.
(C) The quality of research that professors publish each year does not necessarily result in improved status among their colleagues.
Quality of research is not in contention here. We are talking about quantity only.
(D) Other state universities have their own research requirements—in some cases, quite a bit above the standards of this university—for certain areas of study.
This doesn't explain why current professors are against the proposal when it doesn't concern them.
(E) Liberal Arts professors make up the majority of the university's professors, and are currently required to publish a significantly greater amount of research than professors in the Sciences.
Again, it is irrelevant to the current professors. The new proposal is applicable only to new hires so why would current professors object? We have no explanation.