Thanks to retired faculty: Retired professors show the best of UNC by offering to teach without pay

Retired professors deserve praise for offering to teach next year for free.

At its Feb. 17 meeting the UNC Retired Faculty Association approved a resolution in which retired professors offered to teach courses and perform other faculty duties such as writing grants without being paid a salary.

It could be a life-saving option for our University which is facing unprecedented budgets cuts.

These cuts could result in faculty layoffs that will diminish the quality of the University's academics.

UNC students could have fewer classes to choose from next year and those classes might be much larger than the current class size — about two-thirds of the classes on campus have under 30 students.

But the Retired Faculty Association has graciously offered to serve the UNC community by filling in the gaps the budget cuts might produce.

These professors are dedicated enough to their former University to make sure the education it offers does not suffer in this economic crisis.

Now the University should accept their help and allow them to step up should the University be required to lay off currently faculty.   

It's possible that bringing back retired professors would violate the strict requirements of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools which accredits our University.

But every step should be taken to try to get this move approved.

 After all as Andrew Dobelstein president-elect of the association said of the retired faculty members" ""it's not as if they're duds"" either.""

Former professors should be commended for their eagerness to help the University overcome its current fiscal constraints.