"What do emeritus professors do? They lie in the sun and drink." Thus retired member of the faculty jokingly described his occupation as he thumbed through the galley proofs of his recently completed book. The jest was obvious. Many people who look forward to retirement from the business world desire a period of inactivity, and a life of comfortable leisure. This, for the most part, is not true in the academic world.

Of the 80 emeritus professors currently listed by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, almost half have elected to remain within the University and continue their research. Many maintain studies in Widener and continue the work they have been doing throughout their careers, the only difference being that scholarly research and writing becomes a full-time job.

Opportunities to continue teaching are open to those retired professors who do not wish to remain in Cambridge. 'Many colleges and universities are more than willing to accept an emeritus professor from Harvard as a guest lecturer. Recently, the John Hay Whitney Foundation established a program for retired scholars in the humanities which pays professors an average of $7,500 a year to teach at small liberal arts colleges all over the country. This plan enables the small, less heavily endowed colleges to acquire the services of a great scholar whom they might not otherwise be able to afford. It also gives the emeritus professor an opportunity to continue his teaching career if he so desires. The haven for retired law professors is a unique institution, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco which is staffed almost entirely by emeritus professors.

Teaching Opportunities Limited

Within the University itself, there are occasional opportunities to return to active teaching, although not in courses for undergraduates or graduate students. Edwin C. Kemble, Professor of Physics, Emeritus, was lately called out of retirement to direct The Program for High School Teachers of Science and Mathematics here. This "retreading" program established by the Ford Foundation seeks to educate high school teachers in the latest concepts of nuclear physics so that they in turn may keep their own students in step with modern science and technology.

This is not the usual procedure however; 66 is the official retirement age at Harvard. A professor must retire "after the completion of the academic year in which he has reached his 66 birthday," unless he is specifically asked to remain by the Corporation.

The University retirement system is flexible and the Corporation has the option of asking individual instructors to stay on until they reach the age of 70, but no longer. In each case the Corporation's decision is based on the value of the individual to the college. The Corporation assumes responsibility because of the feeling that this would be a difficult job indeed for a dean who has closer personal contacts with the professors. The flexibility of the rules of retirement also extends in the opposite didection allowing any Officers either of Instruction or Administration to retire at the age of 60 and still receive a pension.

Under the Harvard pension plan, however, the longer a professor remains an active lecturer the larger is his pension. Under the present system, the University contributes 12 1/2 per cent of the professor's yearly salary to a pension fund that is turned over to the professor upon his retirement. Formerly, the professor himself used to put 5 per cent of his salary into the fund, with the University providing the remaining 7 1/2 per cent. As it stands now, the professor actually receives 12 1/2 per cent of his salary annually, while a member of the Faculty.

Professor Retain Studies

Perhaps the most valuable part of the retirement plan however is the custom of allowing out-going professors to retain their studies in Widener where they have easy access to all facilities of the library. Although there is no guarantee that a professor may keep his study, tradition is very strong and few retiring professors are ever forced to vacate the stacks.

Widener 417, the study of Samuel Eliot Morison, Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History, Emeritus, is a veritable beehive of activity. Not only is the small office crowded with file cabinets and books, but it is used by a secretary and a research assistant as well as the professor.

A man whose energy belies his age, Morison has kept busy since his retirement in 1955 after some forty years of teaching. In the past few years Morison has been working on a huge project for the United States Navy: a History of the United States Naval Operations in World War II. He has just completed Volume 13 of this imposing assignment.

In this same vein, Morison has just finished a biography of John Paul Jones. Entitled John Paul Jones: a Sailor's Biography, the publisher's proofs sit on the professor's desk awaiting final touches. The volume will be a Book of the Month Club selection, although the professor does not yet know when it will be published. Currently Morison is actively engaged in writing a single-volume history of the United States entitled The Oxford History of the American People.

Morison Has Many Activities

In addition to his role as one of the University's most prolific writers, Morison still holds the title of Historian on ison 300th Anniversary of Harvard College. In connection with this office, Morison is constantly answering letters addressed either to him personally or relayed to him by Dean Bundy. He also receives letters from secondary school students all over the country, which he answers only when they ask for specific information. Of the more general type of inquiry he says, "they want me to do their work for them," and so most of these requests end up in the wastebasket.