U. will stop forcing faculty to retire at 70

The University will eliminate mandatory faculty retirement at age 70 and make tenure a life term in order to comply with changing federal laws. At the end of the calendar year, an exception made for college professors to the 1986 Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which outlaws age discrimination, will expire. But the University has chosen to comply by June 30, Deputy Provost Walter Wales said Thursday. Some professors stay at the University until they are forced to retire, while others bid farewell years before that time. "We have waves of retirement," said Dennis Mahoney, the University's benefits manager. "One at 62, one at 65, and many professors stay until mandatory retirement at age 70." Some professors said that although many could teach effectively into their seventies, there may be problems if professors are allowed to teach after they have clearly lost that ability. "One of the big issues we'll have to cover will be the removal of professors who really shouldn't be teaching," Faculty Senate Chairperson David Hildebrand said. "We will be writing some sort of guidelines to be included in our revised disciplinary procedures, which should be finished fairly soon." Some faculty members said they feel, however, that most professors will be retiring before they are asked to leave. "I'm not convinced that there will really be an older faculty," Social Work Professor June Axinn said. "We have an excellent pension plan and [we] usually [have] professors that would be more than happy to retire at a reasonable age." Mahoney explained that the pension plan will have to be amended, along with the early retirement incentive plan, which makes it profitable for professors to retire before age 70. "We will be ending the early retirement plan this summer," Mahoney said. "Of course we are exploring every option and expect to have a new plan sometime soon."

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