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COUNCIL OF ELDERS: Hastorf
and Mark help voice emeriti concerns.
Rod Searcey |
when faculty retire from
many universities, especially those without a campus
residential area, they “sort of disappear,”
says former provost Al Hastorf. “But here the
emeriti stay around, and I think it’s important
that they play some role.”
Since his retirement in 1990, Hastorf has taught occasional
freshman seminars in social psychology and has stayed
in touch with colleagues through Faculty Club lunches.
Then, last year, he became the first professor to hold
the grandiloquent title of Emeritus Standing Guest of
the Faculty Senate. Proposed by law professor Hank Greely
when he chaired the Senate two years ago, the new position
provides an emeritus representative with the opportunity
to speak to issues that come up for discussion, although
it confers no voting right.
Last year, Hastorf says, he “sat right in with
the gang” in the Law School classroom where the
Senate meets. This year, he has graduated to watch the
proceedings from what he calls the “peanut gallery,”
the row of seats at the back of the room. Taking his
place in the Senate body is Jim Mark, professor emeritus
of surgery.
“We’re a resource of energy and experience,”
Mark says. “Our thought is, what can we do for
the University, and, of course, what can the University
do for us?” Hastorf estimates that some 50 emeriti
professors currently teach courses, and another 100
do informal advising. Mark, for example, has lectured
in sophomore seminars and serves on the University’s
board on judicial affairs.
The Senate rep is advised by a council that includes
former University president Richard Lyman; Eleanor Maccoby,
professor emerita of psychology; Larry Ryan, professor
emeritus of English; Ken Scott, professor emeritus of
law; and Tony Seidman, professor emeritus of engineering.
They meet several times a year and are in contact, by
e-mail, with 440 emeriti in the Bay Area and more than
100 former colleagues at a distance.
Although a $10 million gift to Yale University to renovate
a center on campus for emeriti use has made headlines,
Hastorf says Stanford faculty are “not big on
the importance of a bricks and mortar building.”
Instead, he’d like to see research funds that
would enable emeriti to, say, finish writing books.
“It would be awfully nice, if one needed to travel
to a Los Angeles library,” he adds.
“Or to Bellagio,” Mark says, grinning. |
