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[quote=Anonymous]The personality criteria reminds me of two things:  The student evaluations which professors receive, and the criteria among tenure criteria for professors that they be "collegial". Both of these have been long the subject of criticism within the academic community.

There are studies which show that more attractive people routinely receive higher student evaluations, as do men.  Even when students take a course online, they routinely rate a professor higher if they think he is male.  Men are more likely to be described as 'brilliant', a 'genius', etc.   (also, studies have shown that letters of recommendation look different depending on factors like the race and gender of the person being rated.  A man is more likely to be described as brilliant while a woman is more likely to be described in physical terms or congratulated on her ability to balance her studies with her family responsibilities).

On the subject of collegiality, it's been found that people generally rate people as collegial (or likeable) if they are similar to themselves.  In some ways, it's the "would you like to have a beer with him" question -- among the people you might not like to have a beer with, you can include the Mormon guy, the woman in the hijab, the overweight divorced woman, etc.  We shouldn't be making decisions about who to hire in our workplaces based on how comfortable we feel with them, but on the quality of their work.

The problem with only taking students who are likeable, is that from what I understand Albert Einstein was a bit of an asshole, Temple Grandin makes people uncomfortable, you might have to work a little harder to joke around with the deaf guy, the woman in the hijab, etc.  I suspect that likeability basically means "this person is similar to me."[/quote]

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