Editorial: In support of the University's retirement plan

Earlier this week, Dean of the Faculty David Dobkin unveiled the University’s new retirement bonus plan. The plan consists of a variety of bonus payments for faculty over the age of 65 who agree to retire either immediately or within a few years. The hope is that this plan will deal with the declining retirement rate among older faculty and open the way for more junior faculty hires. The Editorial Board lauds this creative solution and encourages faculty members who qualify to seriously consider accepting the University’s offer.

The strongest argument in favor of this proposal comes from Dobkin. Senior tenured professors are, on average, paid much more than the assistant professors that the University would hire in their stead. So long as older faculty members retain their posts, it is not economically viable for the University to hire new faculty. The University’s current plan is to offer faculty a one-time bonus of 150 percent of their current salary as well as a declining yearly bonus for those who agree to retire by the age of 70. Hopefully, this incentive will be enticing enough to create more rapid turnover and more opportunity to hire junior faculty.

There are several other compelling reasons to establish this program. First, the plan would make retirement patterns among the faculty much more predictable. When it is hard to predict retirement, it becomes even harder to develop a long-term faculty recruitment plan. And in light of well-documented fiscal concerns at the University, this plan will undoubtedly be a good cost-saving mechanism. Younger faculty members are, by and large, a more efficient use of department resources. The pressure to earn tenure gives junior faculty members a greater incentive to conduct meaningful research and take on heavy teaching loads. A third, somewhat ancillary issue, is that with the declining rate of retirement, many bright minds may choose to forgo academia for other career paths. The University’s retirement bonus sends a powerful signal that Princeton is still interested in employing newly-minted Ph.D.s and encourages doctoral candidates to continue their programs and research.

In light of these overwhelming benefits, senior faculty members should seriously consider this retirement plan and take up the University’s offer. Given the positive impact this program can have on the University, it is equally important that administrators firmly commit to it. If it becomes apparent that the current structure does not provide sufficient incentives, the University should consider a further increase in retirement bonuses.