Full Faculty Will Convene On Pensions

All 610 permanent members of the University faculty will meet for the first time in 30 years in Sanders Theater Monday to examine the adequacy of the current faculty pension program.

When the University Council--as a convocation of the full faculty is called--last met in 1919, it was also discussing pension problems.

At that time it joined the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association plan, following the recommendation of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Rising prices, however, have led the faculty to request an investigation is determine if T.I.A.A. payments still provide enough funds for retirement.

Under the T.I.A.A. plan, which is still in use, the University and the faculty member each pay 5 per cent of a salary into the pension fund as a premium.

Carnegie Helped

Prior to joining the T.I.A.A. in 1919, faculty members received their pensions from the Carnegie Foundation, which provided pension funds for major universities in the United States in 1916, however, the Carneige Foundation found it could no longer afford the program.

Before the turn of the century, when the University faculty was of more manageable proportion, the University Council met fairly regularly to discuss academic problems.

Besides the President, professors, associate professors, and assistant professors, all of whom are entitled to vote at the University Council meeting, all nonpermanent faculty members can attend the conference but may not vote.

Smaller universities or colleges often have "Academic Senates" which serve the purpose that the University was established for in Harvard's early days as a university.