In my countless discussions with faculty and administrators about tenure in the past few years, many professors and administrators suggested to me that the problems with tenure started with the end of mandatory retirement. If only faculty were forced to leave at 65, the argument goes, we wouldn’t have all these incompetent or burnt out hangers-on. And I have also had a number of good professors I met tell me that teaching is a young person’s game and that they fear they are losing their touch.
I appreciate the honesty, certainly, but I have to say that in my own academic experience, this was not the case. Most of my best professors in college were over the age of 65 and a number were significantly older. In fact, when people ask me about which faculty members I recommend at my alma mater, I am saddened to say that quite a few have died or retired since I graduated.
I was thinking about all of this in connection with a new report out from the American Council on Education about how to deal with employment issues of older faculty. Many universities are trying to save money by getting older professors to take buyouts. But the ACE report contains a number of warnings:
Colleges and universities must avoid negative stereotypes suggesting that older faculty are incompetent or unproductive. All faculty must be judged on their individual performance. General rules prohibiting, for example, the re-hire of retired faculty into adjunct positions may violate the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. It is important not to use terms such as “doddering” or “fuddy-duddy,” lest they be taken as evidence of bias. Institutions must also avoid retaliating against faculty who assert their right to be free from age discrimination. Colleges and universities can address performance issues with all tenured faculty, whether young or old, through professional development, dis- cipline, and dismissal. The passive strategy of waiting for mandatory retirement is no longer an option.
Maybe the problem is that college administrators became used to mandatory retirement or death as the end to the tenured career and that’s why we have older professors who seem to get away with doing nothing and still collecting their full salary. I wish administrators could take seriously the ACE advice about “addressing performance issues.” But all too often, that seems not to happen. Still, I hardly think the solution is getting rid of all older professors automatically, even the ones who are good at their jobs.
