CSU, faculty disagree on retirement

By Sharon Christensen, On-Line Forty-Niner

Thursday, September 24, 1998

The Faculty Early Retirement Program continues to spark debate as the California Faculty Association and the California State University system attempt to reach a compromise.

The CFA is proposing an increase in the number of years a professor may be eligible for the program from five to seven, while the CSU is requesting a decrease from five years to two.

FERP allows faculty of retirement age to teach part time while receiving a percentage of their current salary as well as a percentage of their retirement benefits for up to five years.

"The program is a good deal for the university, faculty and students," said Martin Fiebert, psychology professor at Cal State Long Beach.

Fiebert said faculty members who elect to enter FERP provide students with teaching experience as well as aid in departmental transitions from older to younger faculty by contributing "critical information and experience regarding teaching [and] curriculum."

"This was never meant to be a permanent program," said Ken Swisher, media relations manager for the CSU system. "[It was] designed for professors who wanted to have a number of years of partial retirement before full retirement."

Swisher said that the CSU wants to cut back the program for two reasons.

"FERP holds up the hiring of tenure track positions because the majority of the people in FERP are in tenure track," he said, referring to departmental limits on tenure positions being held by part-time professors in the program.

Swisher said it is difficult to schedule classes consistently with instructors who teach part time each semester or a single semester after retirement.

The tenured professors and librarians who choose to participate in FERP must be over 55, retire from the university completely and request to participate in FERP.

While in the program, faculty may teach one semester of the year or part time for the whole year, whichever equates to 50 percent of class load from the year before retirement, according to Academic Personnel Assistant Donna Johnson.

The percentage of a professor's salary earned while in FERP is determined by the length of service to the university.

"In some cases, they're teaching half time and earning more," Swisher said.