Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    An AI-Driven Work Force
    University Transformation
Sign In
Wired Campus circle logo

Wired Campus

The latest on tech and education.

Faculty Group Leaks MLA Jobs List in Dispute Over Free Access

By Katherine Mangan September 24, 2012

A group of professors who think that everyone should have free, direct access to the Modern Language Association’s

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

A group of professors who think that everyone should have free, direct access to the Modern Language Association’s job listings says it’s tired of waiting for the association to tear down its paywall.

So it has posted a site, called MLAjobleaks.com, that takes users directly to those lists, and it’s asking faculty members to keep the information flowing.

Leaders of the MLA say the group, whose members have remained anonymous, are misleading people. Everyone who completed a graduate degree in English or a foreign language can gain access to the job-information list by following the instructions on the MLA’s Web site, said Rosemary G. Feal, executive director of the association. “What you’re hearing out there is someone not knowing how to access the list or not agreeing with our model,” she said.

ADVERTISEMENT

David Parry, an assistant professor of emerging media at the University of Texas at Dallas who has blogged about the controversy, isn’t buying that. “If it was open to anyone, why would there be a paywall?” he said. “By definition, a paywall is meant to exclude people.”

Unlike groups like the American Historical Association, which opens its jobs listings to anyone, the MLA grants access to departments of English and foreign languages that belong to the Association of Departments of English or the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages, groups housed under the MLA. Ms. Feal said that about 440 of the approximately 500 Ph.D.-granting departments in MLA fields belong to those groups.

Member departments in turn extend access to faculty members and to current and former students, she said. Free PDF copies of the jobs list are also available five times a year, including twice in the months before the MLA’s annual convention.

People without academic institutional access can subscribe to the jobs list by paying to become affiliate members, which costs $40 for MLA members and $65 for nonmembers.

Mr. Parry argued that plenty of people still miss out, including scholars in fields like media studies and American studies who might want to apply for jobs in English. He also said the MLA had not explained clearly enough how faculty members could view the listings. “The MLA is counting on the idea that graduate institutions will provide access to everyone, which is clearly not happening,” he wrote on his blog.

ADVERTISEMENT

In an exchange on Facebook, Chad Black, an associate professor of early Latin American history at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, asked why the MLA did not open the database up completely. “It seems like the MLA is making this needlessly complicated to protect revenue streams,” he wrote.

Kathleen Fitzpatrick, the MLA’s director of scholarly communication, responded to the post, agreeing that such an approach would be simpler in the short run. “The issue is that the subscription has for years (decades, really) been one of the core member benefits of joining ADE/ADFL, and the organizations—like many member organizations—have cause to worry that if they make member benefits totally open to the world, the impetus to join disappears.”

Scholarly associations rely heavily on such income at a time when full-time faculty positions are being cut and less money is available for conference travel.

In an e-mail interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Black said the association would better serve the disciplines by continuing to charge for placing ads but not for viewing them. “Job seekers have a hard-enough time as it is in the academic market,” he wrote.

Mr. Parry, who wrote on his blog that he was not the “mastermind” behind the leaked-jobs site, said that while the MLA described access to the jobs database as a service for members, the association “has set itself up as the primary knowledge broker in the trafficking of information about jobs.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“This isn’t a service,” he argued. “This is holding information hostage.”

(See a related article: Market for Full-Time Language Jobs Improves Again but Still Lags Behind Pre-Recession Levels)

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
mangan-katie.jpg
About the Author
Katherine Mangan
Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, student success, and job training, as well as free speech and other topics in daily news. Follow her @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Mangan-Censorship-0610.jpg
Academic Freedom
‘A Banner Year for Censorship’: More States Are Restricting Classroom Discussions on Race and Gender
On the day of his retirement party, Bob Morse poses for a portrait in the Washington, D.C., offices of U.S. News and World Report in June 2025. Morse led the magazine's influential and controversial college rankings efforts since its inception in 1988. Michael Theis, The Chronicle.
List Legacy
‘U.S. News’ Rankings Guru, Soon to Retire, Reflects on the Role He’s Played in Higher Ed
Black and white photo of the Morrill Hall building on the University of Minnesota campus with red covering one side.
Finance & operations
U. of Minnesota Tries to Soften the Blow of Tuition Hikes, Budget Cuts With Faculty Benefits
Photo illustration showing a figurine of a football player with a large price tag on it.
Athletics
Loans, Fees, and TV Money: Where Colleges Are Finding the Funds to Pay Athletes

From The Review

A stack of coins falling over. Motion blur. Falling economy concept. Isolated on white.
The Review | Opinion
Will We Get a More Moderate Endowment Tax?
By Phillip Levine
Photo illustration of a classical column built of paper, with colored wires overtaking it like vines of ivy
The Review | Essay
The Latest Awful EdTech Buzzword: “Learnings”
By Kit Nicholls
William F. Buckley, Jr.
The Review | Interview
William F. Buckley Jr. and the Origins of the Battle Against ‘Woke’
By Evan Goldstein

Upcoming Events

Plain_Acuity_DurableSkills_VF.png
Why Employers Value ‘Durable’ Skills
Warwick_Leadership_Javi.png
University Transformation: A Global Leadership Perspective
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin