The academic job market is so tight in most fields that random universities in the middle of nowhere get hundreds of applicants for a single tenure-track job. If you go back 100 years ago you would find that Harvard was a lot less selective (there were far fewer academics), but it was still elite.
Overall, society isn't putting enough money into research. Elite universities hiring more faculty would be a great thing, in my estimation.
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You can’t just hire more top talent. “Elite” is “best”, not “more”.
The academic job market is so tight in most fields that random universities in the middle of nowhere get hundreds of applicants for a single tenure-track job. If you go back 100 years ago you would find that Harvard was a lot less selective (there were far fewer academics), but it was still elite.
Overall, society isn't putting enough money into research. Elite universities hiring more faculty would be a great thing, in my estimation.
You absolutely can hire more top talent.