Rudenstine also reported to the Faculty thatUniversity officials are upgrading staff pensionplans and considering changes to faculty pensionstandards.
According to Rudenstine, the abolition ofHarvard's mandatory retirement age--a change thatwas dictated by federal law--has allowed someprofessors to collect more than 100 percent oftheir ordinary pension rates when they actually doretire.
Some faculty pensions dwarf staff pensions bysuch a margin that Harvard may be in violation ofanti-discrimination laws because of thedifference, according to Rudenstine.
"Pensions for some faculty members are growingquite sizable," Rudenstine said. "And theUniversity is in danger of falling out ofcompliance with anti-discrimination laws."
Rudenstine told the Faculty that evenconservative projections show the universityexceeding a legally acceptable ratio of faculty tostaff pensions. He said the University will beginto investigate possible solutions to the problem.
"This is a real problem that we can't ignore,"Rudenstine said. "And I want you to hear it fromme first.