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Don't Call Them Fuddy Duddies
A predicted wave of retirements of tenured faculty is presenting colleges with opportunities and practical and programmatic concerns -- as well as legal considerations, according to a report released today by the American Council on Education.
Dan Berrett
"Retirement incentives raise a host of complex questions under the tax code as well as federal laws protecting employee benefits," wrote Ann H. Franke, president of Wise Results and a frequent legal adviser to colleges, in "Supporting the Culminating Stages of Faculty Careers: Legal Issues," which is being released today in tandem with a webcast presentation on the subject.
Clear, deliberate communication between administrators and faculty, she wrote, especially about such issues as workload, tenure status and tax liabilities, will help diminish the risk.
Such an approach would be different from the stance many colleges assumed before Congress abolished the mandatory age of retirement for faculty members in 1994. "The passive strategy of waiting for mandatory retirement is no longer an option," she wrote.
The 1994 change in the law coupled with an aging professoriate and a persistent strain of age-related bias has made legal complaints under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act increasingly likely. Franke describes "stray remarks" on, say, the need for fresh blood in a department, as helping to support the impression that an institution discriminates on the basis of age. She also cites, from the AARP, a list of words that, if used in talking to aging faculty, might strike some as demeaning: behind the times, doddering, feeble, foolish, fragile, fuddy duddy, gray, outdated, over the hill, senile, sweet, withered, wrinkled -- and even overqualified.
But easing tenured faculty out of their positions is tempting to universities that are coping with bleak budgets. Last month, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas announced that 48 tenured faculty had taken a buyout plan that staved off the need to lay off tenured faculty.
Such efforts must be handled adroitly. Franke cites U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission data that show the number of age-related complaints filed with the EEOC increasing 45 percent since 2000. At the same time, the number of overall complaints of discrimination also has increased, which means age-related causes of action have consistently represented about one-fifth of the cases taken up by the EEOC over the past decade (age-related complaints of retaliation have been on the rise, however).
The report recounts several cases in recent years in which unclear communication, poor training of administrators, flawed policies or discriminatory practices have cost colleges. For example, Franke writes about the EEOC suing the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 2005 for age discrimination and retaliation on behalf of a retired professor and dean who was barred by policy from being rehired after his retirement. The policy disqualified one group -- older faculty, the EEOC argued. The suit was settled for $450,000, Franke wrote, the policy was repealed, and the university promised to train managers and supervisors on discrimination and harassment.
In another case she cites, a court ordered Fort Hays State University to reinstate Thomas Guss, a professor of educational administration and counseling, and pay him the unpaid salary due to him. In the second year of a five-year, phased-retirement contract, Guss objected to the diminished course load the university was offering him. Fort Hays severed the agreement, saying his refusal to show up under these conditions was tantamount to abandoning his position, which was grounds for termination, Franke wrote (the contract specified that the scheduled reduction of hours would be adjusted annually by mutual agreement).
This case pointed out how important it is to specify when a professor's tenure actually ends: is it at the start of a phased-retirement contract, some point in the middle, or the end? "The choice can make a difference," says Franke.
Universities should review their existing policies, she wrote, to make sure they do not unintentionally provide incentives to postpone retirement. Colleges also should clearly communicate with faculty about their pension benefits; the tax implications of their post-retirement pay packages; post-retirement medical, long-term care, dental and life insurance benefits; Medicare coverage; and campus amenities, including their potential to be rehired for part-time teaching.
"Retirement incentives provide an opportunity for creative problem solving," Franke says. "Devote the time and resources to design and implement them legally and effectively."
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"I Thought It Would Be Bad. I Was Very Wrong": More Praise for The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels
We told you about the stellar reviews of The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels once already, but the buzz is loud, and growing. There were too many to fit into one post, and the reviews kept flooding in. Sources from The Wall Street Journal to actor Mark Pellegrino have since joined the discussion.
So here is some of the more recent praise for Alex Epstein's "pathbreaking new book".
If I could personally place this book in the hands of everyone who works in the fossil fuel industry, I would. Short of that, I will do my best to convince you to purchase a copy.
MasterResource, 11/20
Read in full
One of the most compelling arguments for the moral value of fossil fuels and the need to increase their use I have ever read.
Human Events, 11/21
Epstein makes the case that we have no reason to take issue with fossil fuels… [his] book shows the remarkable value we receive from using fossil fuels.
Nasdaq's The Motley Fool, 11/22
Prominent praise has come, not just from reviews but from the words of a variety of figures. The Moral Case has, for instance, been the subject of repeated endorsement (and retweets) from Yaron Brook and the Ayn Rand Institute.
The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels by former ARI writer @AlexEpstein is out. Buy it. Support it. http://t.co/tqJnJ95kKc
— Yaron Brook (@yaronbrook) November 13, 2014
Keith Lockitch and @elanjourno discuss The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels by @AlexEpstein: https://t.co/lfIytN5zKd
— Ayn Rand Institute (@AynRandInst) November 17, 2014
And not all that praise has been from assumed sympathizers. Economist Bryan Caplan didn't expect to like it, but as he says, the thing that sets The Moral Case apart is that it "preaches not to the choir". Only 40 pages in, he shared these feelings with his followers.
I thought *The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels* would be bad. I was very wrong. @AlexEpstein preaches not to the choir. http://t.co/uKIVGiwWCG — Bryan Caplan (@bryan_caplan) December 3, 2014
Even celebrities like actor Mark Pellegrino—from Lost, Supernatural, and Being Human—are becoming champions of Alex's book.
Gods job on @DennisDMZ @AlexEpstein . Folks read his book 'the MORAL case for fossil fuels'
— Mark Pellegrino (@MarkRPellegrino) November 27, 2014
And on top of all that, there are the comments of visionaries like PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and The Rational Optimist author Matt Ridley, some of which are quoted on the book jacket.
That it's the kind of book that can create reactions like that from minds like these is probably why it's in the top three on The Wall Street Journal's business bestsellers list. In fact, the buzz has been so strong they've since found it necessary to review it themselves.
Alex Epstein's moral defense of the means we choose to power our societies forward is a pointed, necessary and surprisingly little-heard one.
The Wallstreet Journal, 12/1
This is the book that can stop it from being a little-heard one.
Still not convinced? Nothing will more effectively prove how important The Moral Case is than reading Chapter One: The Secret History of Fossil Fuels, which you can download free at moralcaseforfossilfuels.com.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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