Indiana University's experiences with trying to cancel an increasingly expensive early retirement system illustrates some of the ways in which faculty retirement benefits are subject to attack and some of the potential and weaknesses of the traditional faculty governance mechanisms in trying to shape a response. (MSE)

Experiences with faculty early retirement programs at three public universities are described. The universities range in size from 11,000 to 33,000 full-time equivalent students with 650 to more than 3,000 faculty members. Attention is directed to: goals of each of the institutions in establishing the program, characteristics of individual…