Retirement policy still in place 5 years later

Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Linguistics Paul Newman challenged IU’s policy on mandatory retirement five years ago when he became interested in a part-time position as associate dean of the faculties. Newman was told he was ineligible because he was too old. \nNewman said he believed this was illegal, so he took his complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. After two years, the EEOC ruled in Newman’s favor and IU was forced to revoke its policy. In its place, IU adopted a new retirement policy applicable only to high-level administrators. The current policy, implemented for a 5-year trial period five years ago, states that all high-level administrators must step down from their positions by age 65.\nBloomington Faculty Council President Lisa Pratt said in an e-mail that she has no substantive comment on the retirement age issue, but she suspects the topic will be revisited by the BFC this year as part of rewriting the policy on benefits.\nPresident of the board of trustees Steve Ferguson explained that the policy has not been lifted because there isn’t a new policy to replace it. Ferguson said the policy did not expire in five years – it was just set forth as a subsequent amount of time to review it. \n“(We’ve) gone through extensive discretion with the faculty council,” Ferguson said. “(Changing the policy) has not been on the agenda.” \nHistory professor Bob Eno, who was president of the BFC five years ago, explained that the only reaction he’s heard to the mandatory retirement clause is that it’s a good idea, even though it hasn’t yet undergone an administrative review.\nEno said he believes if there were no review process, the University would think it better to automatically retire people. \nFerguson said he feels the policy in place does not violate IU’s equal employment opportunity and affirmative action policy, which states “IU prohibits discrimination based on arbitrary considerations of such characteristics as age, ” or federal and state standards. \n“The rule we have – if it didn’t apply, we wouldn’t have it,” Ferguson said. \nThe question Newman wants answered in regard to the retirement clause is “What purpose does the new policy serve?”\nFerguson said in the last five years, nobody has complained about the policy, and many of the trustees are not taking a position on the issue one way or another. \n“There are benefits with mandatory retirement for top executives.” Ferguson said. “It gives them an opportunity to plan and the University to plan.” \nFerguson explained that, under outgoing IU President Adam Herbert, the University created a leadership training program for employees. He said in case the University needed to replace an executive, they would have someone that’s been through the training. \nNewman said he believes that some people can be more effective at their job later in their life.\n“People burn out at different ages,” Newman said. “Some hit their prime at 65.”