(1) Owen should have pushed the organization to find other housing for the interviewee?
(2) If the organization would or could not do so, Owen should not have agreed to host the interviewee for an evening (leaving her to find an expensive last-minute hotel?)
One potential concern with a yes to (2) is that—assuming it would have been OK to offer lodging in this situation to an older male to whom Owen wasn’t attracted—this could be seen as imposing extra costs on the woman for being young, female, and attractive to Owen.
(Personally, I would never make the hosting offer to any candidate.)
The most important thing he needed to do was to not mention masturbation or anything else sexual. The situation makes it significantly harder to for her to push back against unwanted behavior. (I think this would also have been wrong if she had agreed in advance to stay there, but the fact that it was foisted on her on the day makes it worse).
I absolutely agree with 1), I definitely think the org should have paid for a hotel, given how badly they screwed up it’s the least they can do. I’m not too sure about 2), I think an offer of lodging could be okay if it was the absolute last resort and kept strictly professional.
From the article, it sounds like her flights to the UK were paid for by the org (although it’s a little ambiguous, could read it as Owen paying, although that wouldn’t really make sense to me). If they can pay for flights, it seems reasonable that a hotel room is not an excessive extra cost.
I’ve stayed at a (non-EA) professional contact’s house before when they’d invited me to give a talk and later very apologetically realized they didn’t have the budget for a hotel. They likely felt obliged to offer; I felt like it would be awkward to decline. We were both at pains to be extremely, exceedingly, painstakingly polite given the circumstances and turn the formality up a notch.
I agree the org should have paid for a hotel, I’m only mentioning this because if baseline formality is a 5, I would think it would be more normal to kick it up to a 10 under the circumstances. It makes this situation all the more bizarre.
To clarify, do you think:
(1) Owen should have pushed the organization to find other housing for the interviewee?
(2) If the organization would or could not do so, Owen should not have agreed to host the interviewee for an evening (leaving her to find an expensive last-minute hotel?)
One potential concern with a yes to (2) is that—assuming it would have been OK to offer lodging in this situation to an older male to whom Owen wasn’t attracted—this could be seen as imposing extra costs on the woman for being young, female, and attractive to Owen.
(Personally, I would never make the hosting offer to any candidate.)
The most important thing he needed to do was to not mention masturbation or anything else sexual. The situation makes it significantly harder to for her to push back against unwanted behavior. (I think this would also have been wrong if she had agreed in advance to stay there, but the fact that it was foisted on her on the day makes it worse).
I absolutely agree with 1), I definitely think the org should have paid for a hotel, given how badly they screwed up it’s the least they can do. I’m not too sure about 2), I think an offer of lodging could be okay if it was the absolute last resort and kept strictly professional.
From the article, it sounds like her flights to the UK were paid for by the org (although it’s a little ambiguous, could read it as Owen paying, although that wouldn’t really make sense to me). If they can pay for flights, it seems reasonable that a hotel room is not an excessive extra cost.
I’ve stayed at a (non-EA) professional contact’s house before when they’d invited me to give a talk and later very apologetically realized they didn’t have the budget for a hotel. They likely felt obliged to offer; I felt like it would be awkward to decline. We were both at pains to be extremely, exceedingly, painstakingly polite given the circumstances and turn the formality up a notch.
I agree the org should have paid for a hotel, I’m only mentioning this because if baseline formality is a 5, I would think it would be more normal to kick it up to a 10 under the circumstances. It makes this situation all the more bizarre.
Thanks. I got (and agree) that the context makes the masturbation comment worse. Wasn’t sure on the other points, thanks for clarifying.
Owen should have told the org this situation is unacceptable and that they should arrange accommodation at their own expense.