The aging professorate is the focus of the latest University Affairs Prof vs Prof articles. In the case in favour of mandatory retirement, Jamie Paris (University of Manitoba) argues that the current situation creates a difficult employment environment for young academics that may discourage them from staying in the sector; prevents continuing faculty renewal; and enables some academics to work past the point at which they were capable. In the case against, Joe Norris argues that forcing willing workers to retire amounts to “systemic violence.” Norris explains that mandatory retirement can harm the academic community through a loss of knowledge, while also having an emotional and financial impact on those academics in want or need of work.
