General note: up until 1994, there was no law barring universities requiring faculty to retire after a certain age [0], [1]. In other countries, it is not uncom

General note: up until 1994, there was no law barring universities requiring faculty to retire after a certain age [0], [1]. In other countries, it is not uncommon to have a mandatory retirement age for public servants. The effect of the federal ban on mandatory retirement ages for professors changed the academic job market in a pretty profound way: there used to be a greater and more reliable number of job openings in every field. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3737001/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3737001/ [1] http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/12/27/graying_of_us_academia_stirs_debate/ http://archive.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/12/27/gr...