http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2008/08/2008081901c.htmI really question the wisdom of this. Some emeriti or retired professors (and these are not the same thing) may be useful but I wonder how often they are not.
They are not really involved in the day to day running of the department and slowly lose knowledge of the ins and outs, and details, of the decisions being made. Should they have influence in that case?
There comes a time in all organizations when they must move on, transition to something new. This may be especially the case in the academic world where new ideas, technologies, methodologies develop. Older professors have had their day, they have, in some cases, resisted, perhaps correctly innovations, but there is a point at which that must stop. The newer generation has a right to go forward and even make mistakes if necessary. A continued rear-guard fight is not good. It is just endlessly fighting the same battles.
Retired professors cannot be punished by deans and chairs, or at least not as well as employed ones, and can therefore, if they want, wage real war against individuals in a department with whom they have been fighting for years or against deans and chairs. Retirement is sometimes the only way to end decades-long battles or a way to get rid of that really irrational colleague, the one who has become even more irrational and emboldened as he/she gets more seniority.
On balance I think they should be encouraged to find other interests or just attend to their scholarship. I suspect actively engaged retired professors can do more harm than good for a department, especially for one seeking change or one trying to get out of years of dysfunction.
