Second question... is there a quick, easy, painless, non-neighborhood-corrupting, non-gene-pool-corrupting way to eliminate the unmandatory professors? Should I just load a bunch of them into a house, lift the house into the occupied houses bin, and send it to the trash can? Should I have a professors-only cowplant party? Is there a better way?
Don't try to trash them from the sim or lot bin. This is incomplete and messy. Either Deleted 2 or Cowplant Party is usually the way to go, although killing them does not remove them from the game. At this stage in the lifecycle of the game, though, it is unlikely an additional 24 dead sims will make any difference, provided it doesn't become a habitual occurrence.