8 UB retirees not ready to go gently into the night

Dr Isabel Tun

There’s a storm brewing at the University of Belize over reports that at least eight lecturers will not be returning to the classrooms upon reaching the retirement age of fifty-five. This has stirred commotion among faculty members who claim that the UB management will not be renewing the contracts of these lecturers once they reach fifty-five years. The institution adopted that policy upon its amalgamation in 2000 and faculty members say they are not being given enough time to mature into their profession.  This, according to Dr. Isabel Tun, is contrary to the fact that lecturers often do not acquire Ph.D.s until the age of retirement.  So, despite the fact that professors are being certified, the time it takes to do so reduces their careers inside the classroom.

Dr. Isabel Tun, Associate Professor, UB

“In that agreement it came about that the public officer retirement age of fifty-five was set in the University of Belize’s Handbook and it comes under the constitution of the UB Act and so that is a legitimate retirement age.  However, the university has been in existence for ten years and for anyone who knows about higher education we know, that at fifty-five your professors are just coming into their own.  We need senior people who are into research, into mentorship and so the issue now of whether in fact fifty-five is a viable age has become problematic mainly because at this time ,when you have people at this level.  Let me take myself as an example; I was in a workshop for the last two days and it came to my attention only yesterday that a letter of justification would have to be written on my behalf for my retention which when I came on to the University of Belize I was hired under a contractual agreement of being tenure track assistant professor, but governed by the handbook of the University of Belize.”