Mandatory retirement by age 65 has been an integral part of the University of Prince Edward Island’s terms of employment since 1995. Since that time, mandatory retirement has benefitted the overall University community by facilitating workforce renewal, and providing an effective tool for human resources and financial planning.

Following official complaints by three UPEI employees, the PEI Human Rights Commission conducted seven days of hearings in October 2009. The Commission released a ruling in February 2010 that our mandatory retirement policy is discriminatory. As anticipated, the Commission has now issued an Order to the University on the issues of remedies, damages, and costs. This Order was received by UPEI on June 4, 2010. See details on the Order here.

UPEI intends to fully comply with the Order. The three employees will be reinstated immediately and will be compensated for lost income, as outlined in the Order.

The total cost to the University to implement the Order will be in excess of
$1 million. For comparison purposes, this is double the increase to our government operating grant for Main Campus in 2010-11. In addition, the University will incur an estimated $325,000 a year in ongoing salary and benefit costs associated with reinstatement. These costs are substantial, and will need to be accommodated in this year’s budget.

The UPEI Senior Management Group will be meeting early this week to consider the measures that will be necessary to address this financial challenge. Restrictions on hiring and on discretionary expenditures are anticipated.

An ongoing issue raised by the University throughout the mandatory retirement debate has been the need for a more robust system of performance review for all faculty and staff. In light of the Order, it is imperative that this issue be addressed.

As the full implications of this new reality become clearer, we will keep the campus community informed through this website. This will include periodic updates on the judicial review that was requested by the University following the PEI Human Rights Commission’s February ruling.

As I read this, I can see the subtext too - can't you? The natural flow of employment has been dammed. There is a now a logjam at the top.

Who gains and who loses? What does this mean?

A few professors will gain.

But what about the students? There are some older people, like the great late Peter Drucker, who spent their entire and long lives at the cutting edge. Are any of these profs the leaders in their field? Are the students breaking down the doors to be in their class? Are the profs over 65 at UPEI exceptional? What will it be like for the students to have these profs taking up the limited teaching space at UPEI?

What does this mean for the teaching staff at UPEI? It means that UPEI cannot bring in much new blood. At a time when all is up in the air, it means that UPEU's faculty will get fossilized. It was fossilized until the late 1990's when UPEI had a mass buyout of older profs. UPEI's rise took place since that moment. So this means that just as we need to rethink our world, there will be no room for UPEI to bring in new thinking.

What about the regular staff of UPEI? With no exit at 65, what happens to staffing and hiring? It means that all full time staff at UPEI have an unlimited job subject only to a performance review. So if you are the admin at UPEI what does this mean? It means that you fill as few permanent positions as possible.

That means that the generation who has eaten the dregs of the boomers their whole lives continue in limbo. It means that the boomers have shut them off.

So, on balance most lose. Not a bit but a lot. And for what?

I think that there is a moral issue here.

There has been a contract both legal and moral for a long time. No one could say that they woke up one morning and were surprised by having to retire at 65. All could have arranged their lives with years to prepare. Some have said that they wished to continue their research. What has UPEI got to do with that? My own research has never depended on a university. It's not as if anyone of them was using the accelerator at Cern!

These people have used the system.

I say "use" because it is the moral issue that concerns me the most. When they took action, they knew what this would mean to the life of the university. To the future of the students - to the future of the next generation of staff. But they chose their own personal interests over all these others.

Finally "The Commission" Why this narrow range of thinking? We have age limits on countless things. Driving, voting, sex and drinking. Each age limit may be contentious - should it be one year or the other - but the principle behind them is socially sound. At what age are we competent?

How can a body like this overlook the broader interests and the impact of what they decide?

I am 60 in a few weeks. I am not the same person I was when I was 50. Nor should I be. People my age and older have a lot to offer younger people. But not in a transactional and busy way. It's the difference between parenting and being a grand father.

What can we best offer at over 60? Is it not our role and duty as oldies to influence our little world to be a better place for our kids? Is it not our role to be generative? To work to ensure that those younger than us can have a better or a good life?

Ageism! Get a life. When you are old you are different. Time to invent your self as an elder. Time to grow up and see the consequences of your actions.

by robpatrob

This is why I came to PEI. It’s a March day and I am walking my dogs. Yes, we get winters here and it is not always summer. I came to PEI after a traditional life working for a large bank. I needed to find the sacred.

I had been worn out by the grind and I had detached from people, from nature and from myself. PEI as a whole has re-attached me. It is a human scale place where you are “known” and where you know others. As maybe it most of human existence has been. Even as an outsider, you can be part of life here – if you wish to contribute. It is the kind of place where the Premier can get on the plane with you and have a chat. It is the kind of place where Danny  Carmichael can teach you how to use a chainsaw. It is the kind of place where you wave at folks as you drive. It is hard to hide here. I struggled with this before I decided to come here. Would it be too small?

I found not. While the total population is less than a small town, about 140,000 people, we are a province. What that means is that PEI is not like a small town. We have the infrastructure of a medium sized city but in a rural setting. A university, UPEI, that is is on the path to become some thing special. It is becoming the economic and social hub of the place. Supported by Holland College that is also becoming a first class institution. Supported by a health system that is at scale and that as we have found out first hand can offer you the best support in the worst kind of situation. Supported by an arts and food infrastructure designed to offer our million plus visitors a wonderful experience. And of course we are supported by a beautiful land and seas scape.

So I found I could have my reconnection with a human scaled community and still not be a hermit. I could still have the intellectual and social life that I needed. It was small enough to bring back community but also big enough to keep me engaged.

But the issues of the mundane still confront all of us. How am I going to make a living and or keep myself productively occupied? For many might want to “get away” but know that they still have to work. Work is surely more than money. Good work validates us. We all need to find that. Robin, my wife finds that work in her art and in her crafts. But I needed to play in the wider world. I need a lot of complexity to make me feel good.

I have my answers to this and you will find your own. I have work that exists anywhere in the world. Most of my paid work takes place online and in the US. Online I am connected to a global community. The online community on PEI is very strong too. We punch well above our weight here on PEI with several of us playing leading global roles. The airport is 15 minutes from my front door. It is still intimate. Everyone comes to see you off and to pick you up here. You know all the staff and they know you. I can get to Washington by late morning. Getting home is another matter! What I am saying is that if you have mobile skills, you can have the best of both worlds, you can be living on paradise at PEI costs and have globally challenging work and global fees.

But what about here? Can you get work here? I suppose the answer is “That depends”. Depends on what you have to offer. I have been here for 15 years and have had a lot of very interesting work on the Island. I have also had wonderful unpaid work. Wonderful in that the work has bene complex and has made a real difference. If you have something to offer and an open heart, you will find work here or you will make it happen.

Work is work. I have never had much difficulty in finding it. My challenge, and the reason I came here, was that I had lost myself in work. I had to find myself again. Maybe this is you too? Maybe you too need to reconnect?

It is our lovely place that has been my “doctor”. Where the mundane work is the portal to the sacred. Where the tasks of walking the dogs, stacking the wood, mowing the lawn, feeding the birds, shovelling the path, planting the trees, raking the leaves in all the seasons have brought nature back into my nature.

Where the reward at the end of the day is also sacred. Where sitting on the deck with a drink in the summer evenings, eating in front of the fire in the winter, sharing the hammock are rewards in themselves.

Where even in my work work, in my home office as I am now, I can look up and see the eagles fly above the river. All keep me connected.

Is this what you want too?

UPEI Digitization Facility

Robertson Library Digitization Facility

The digitization facility at the University of PEI is a state-of-the-art facility capable of digitizing most print and microform documents. The Library will be using this facility to create a comprehensive collection of Prince Edward Island's print as well as rich media heritage. The Library's partners and external agencies (with a focus on Atlantic Canada) who wish to digitize similar material and make it freely available would also be able to make use of the facility. If you would like to work with the Robertson Library on digitizing content with an Atlantic Canadian theme, please contact Mark Leggott, University Librarian (902-566-0460, mleggott@upei.ca).

 

Indus 5004c Book Scanner BCS-2 scan software 400 x 600 dpi at 16.53"x24.8" (A2), 24bit color Includes cradle and glass cover Formats including TIFF, JPEG
	Mekel Mach IV FG FastFilm Microfilm Scanner FastFilm scan software Scans 16mm and 35mm positive/negative microfilm 80 megapixel/second camera, 100-600 dpi True Optical DPI Grayscale and bitonal dual output 300 images per minute at 200dpi Formats including TIFF, JPEG
TTI Repro-Graphic Workstation 3040 (motorized) Overhead Scanner ViewFinder scan software BetterLight Super 8K-HS Digital Scanback 8000 x10600 (26.7x35.5") 300dpi, 48bit color 30x40" variable controlled vacuum flatbed Boston Rocker Book Cradle Formats including TIFF, JPEG
	Ricoh Aficio 2045e High-Speed sheet feed scanner ScanRouter software 20GB Document server 600dpi, grayscale Scans at speeds of 49 pages per minute at 200dpi Boston Rocker Book Cradle Formats including TIFF, Multi-page TIFF, PDF, and JPEG
Microtek ScanMaker 1000XL Flatbed Scanner SilverFast scan software 3200-6400dpi, 48 bit color 12x17" flatbed Negative and Transparency adapter (35mm, 4x5 and 120 film) Formats including TIFF, JPEG
	NextEngine Desktop 3D Scanner 2020i 3D Scanner ScanStudio Core software Multi-laser scanning technology Photographic full color texture overlay Formats including STL, OBJ, VRML, XYZ

The University of Prince Edward Island intends to review a decision by the P.E.I. Human Rights Commission that found its policy of mandatory retirement discriminatory.

Yogi Fell said the decision is not just for her but for everyone that follows her. (CBC)

The commission found in favour of three employees who were forced to retire in 2005 in a decision released Tuesday.

UPEI president Wade MacLauchlan said one the first things the university must do is consider the possibility of appealing the decision.

"We're going to be reviewing all of that internally, taking account of advice from our legal advisors," MacLauchlan told CBC News.

Yogi Fell, one of three UPEI employees who filed the complaint, opened her envelope from the commission Tuesday morning to find the ruling had gone in her favour.

"I'm pretty excited. I feel that, you know, we're now in tune with the rest of Canada," Fell said.

"I'm just so pleased that this decision has been made, because it's not only for me it's for all the women that are working to follow me. If they don't have a big enough pension then we can continue."

Future impact

Thomy Nillson, who was a psychology professor, believes the decision will be good for UPEI.

The decision leaves Wade MacLauchlan concerned about how the university will renew itself. (CBC)

"I'm glad for the university as a whole. I feel this decision will be to the benefit of the university," said Nillson.

But MacLauchlan expressed concern about what the decision means for the future of the university. He said it is important to have an appropriate mix of younger and older faculty, and new ideas.

"A very important part of that is the ability to then renew the whole team," he said.

"Without mandatory retirement the whole question of renewal is up in the air."

MacLauchlan said universities and other institutions in Canada that have eliminated mandatory retirement have been surprised at how many older employees have opted to stay on, and with more people continuing to work fewer new people can hired.

Retirement policies are a part of of inter-generational equity, he said, and affect the current and future outlook of students.

Fell is looking forward to returning to work at the university's shipping department, but the commission has not yet ruled on remedies and/or damages. It has given the two sides 45 days to make submissions regarding remedies for the discrimination.

The third complainant in the case was Richard Wills, a professor in sociology and anthropology All three were forced to retire at age 65 in 2005.

Renewal is the key to health of any system. The people who lose now are our children. This action is mean and selfish. The judgement is narrow and unthoughftul.

We all have our day. The greatest gift we give the next generation is to move on.

Wade MacLauchlan's roots run deep in the ruddy soil of PEI, but his ambition has always been global. For almost 11 years, Mr. MacLauchlan has been president of the University of Prince Edward Island, a regional economic engine that has spawned biotech startups and computer geeks. His leadership at UPEI comes to an end in 2011 and, as the son of a legendary local entrepreneur, he is thinking of where this reputedly have-not province will find new sources of innovation.

During Wade's tenure at UPEI, the University has become in effect the most important social and economic driver in our province.

The interview linked in to this post will give you a sense of how he sees things. He is not 'Just" a university president. He is a university president that sees the university at the core of the future of his province.

Wander around today on the campus. This is not the PEI that I came to only 15 years ago.

The people - they come from all over the world. PEI might be hard on newcomers but UPEI is a beacon. Wade saw very early that the demographics of PEI would make it hard for universities. He was among the very first University Presidents to act on this. This increased diversity has its challenges and friction but it makes UPEI a much more interesting experience for all. It has brought so much more life to the place.

Surely this example will affect all the province in the years to come?

The energy - I am doing work in the library right now - it is absolutely humming. There is a buzz in the air that was not there before. This is a confidence issue. UPEI is not "Just" the last resort but an organization that can and does hold its head up high even though it is small. It can do this because it is also a leader in many small but key fields.

New infrastructure - it's not just the pool etc but the labs with hundreds of people. UPEI did almost no research 10 years ago. Now it can and does attract the top people in a number of very relevant fields. This is no accident.

There is more to infrastructure than the buildings as well. Wade has sponsored capacity building too. The PEI Bio Alliance has connected this research to a growing business ecology as well - the aim is to replace what we lose in conventional agriculture and fishing. My bet is that 2010 may be the cross over year where the economic impact of UPEI is greater than the sum of farming and fishing once you rake all the debt out of the conventional side.

Quietly, as the commodity business that we all depended on, dies away, UPEI has been growing as an alternative.

Wade leaves in 2011 still a young man with a mission...