Even so, academics can be quite aggressive, especially when it comes to research. Faculty positions and grants are difficult to obtain, we are rewarded for publishing a lot, and our universities seem quite pleased when our work generates public attention (of the positive sort). All of those factors combine to produce a culture that rewards highly assertive faculty members.
The awkwardness and occasional hostility that may arise among scholars in competitive fields gets even more complicated when members of an underrepresented group (such as women in the physical sciences, engineering, and math) are added to the mix. You end up with a rather long list of situations in which people might not behave as well as they could.
In the years that I have been blogging, I have written about some of the situations in which we academics are impolite to each other, and offered suggestions for how we might get along better. I started numbering the examples, at first with randomly assigned, absurdly high numbers, as if they were items in a long nonexistent document called "FSP's Guide to Academic Etiquette." Eventually I collected all of those scenarios together and gave them real numbers. I hereby share my existing list, with the addition of some new items.
A cursory glance shows that this is by no means a comprehensive list of all the things one might want or need to know to navigate the academic world. Furthermore, some of these tips are more useful than others, some are more serious than others, and more than a few focus on the extremes of academic behavior. All of them are based on actual experiences. On to the list:
1. For interviewees: During your campus interview, don't give different, completely inconsistent answers to different people depending on your perception of their position in the department or university hierarchy. If you are aggressive with female assistant professors ("I am not interested in teaching. I intend to hire five postdocs and focus on research. So, how many grants do you have?"), but unctuous with the senior male professors ("Teaching is a major priority for me, and I plan to involve students in my research."), that discrepancy might be discovered. We do talk about you after you're gone. And since this example (like the others) is based on a true story, I can report that such behavior may not be viewed favorably.
2. For interviewees: If, for some reason, you absolutely must bring your significant other to an interview, including to social events with members of the hiring committee, don't smooch, call each other cute nicknames, and/or feed each other during the dinner. The hiring committee may well comprised people with families and interests outside work, but they may nevertheless be disturbed by that behavior.
3. For faculty interviewers: Don't ask illegal and unethical questions. If you don't know what is permissible, find out in advance.
4. For faculty interviewers: Imagine that the person you are interviewing might one day be your colleague. Don't alienate the candidate from the start. Be polite and professional, and don't look at your watch every few minutes during the conversation.
5. For male faculty interviewers: Don't say to a female candidate for a faculty position: "I don't know what we are supposed to talk about. I can tell you that my wife likes living here. She likes the schools, she has a nice garden, and the humidity makes her hair curly." Don't say anything that strongly suggests that you don't know how to have a professional conversation with a woman.
6. For department chairs: Don't start your meeting with a candidate by listing the previous faculty members who have been denied tenure.
7. For department or search-committee chairs: When you have made a decision, let the unsuccessful candidates know the outcome. Don't assume they will guess the outcome if they don't hear any news from you.
8. For applicants: After determining that someone is willing to write a letter of reference for you, provide the necessary information in an organized way—well in advance of the deadline.
9. For applicants: If someone writes a letter of reference for you, let them know the outcome of your applications, or at least ask if they want to be informed.
... See the original for reast of list, which is not related to Academic Job Interviews