Is it bad when Harvard does it too? Yes. After all the kerfuffle over the CSU ad this past week, it turns out that Harvard’s English Department is using almost the same language for a Comp Lit position.
This is why the MLA, the AHA, and other professional organizations need explicit language on acceptable criteria for professorships, especially at the entry level.
Associate Professor of Early Latin America Department of History University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Harvard is rewording theirs, too:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/09/17/harvard-will-change-job-ad-asking-recent-doctorates.