The academic job market was very different in 2006 than even a couple of years later. With the downturn came a flood of people staying on for grad school instea

The academic job market was very different in 2006 than even a couple of years later. With the downturn came a flood of people staying on for grad school instead of looking for jobs - and with them came a flood of free labor for the universities. She probably assumed with her Columbia degree she'd have no trouble landing something quickly, even with her artificial constraints.