Particularly in an era characterized by cheers when someone mentions the likelihood of retiring, this issue could be discussed with the goal of a creative approach that benefits these individuals as well as North Carolina. The Faculty Welfare Committee has begun to identify the types of services that could be extended to retired faculty system-wide and will report at a future meeting of the Assembly this year. The whole process is in worn condition. A report from GA is expected in January that will provide some of the background data and statistics that are needed to address this issue. The Faculty Governance Committee will take up any items that need Assembly action or input based on this report.
Most campuses seem to be going for three years.
GA is collecting draft policies from the campuses on their implementation plans for phased retirement. It has come to the attention of faculty on a couple of campuses that an ad hoc committee of attorneys at GA and campus legal counsel are working on a copyright use policy for the University. On one campus the Scholarly Communication Subcommittee has examined the draft and is concerned that it is seriously flawed. The policy seemed intended primarily to avert the risk of infringement suits, at the expense of offering support to faculty in their mission to create and disseminate information. There also are some internal contradictions regarding copying for coursepacks, and somewhat uneven coverage of copyright issues for media other than print.