Tenured Prof Retires His 'Boomer Butt,' Leaves 'Authoritarian Hellhole' of Penn State

Inside Higher Ed, Retiring His 'Boomer Butt':

Study after study shows that baby-boomer professors aren’t retiring. Between the hits their 401ks took during the recession and fears of stepping off into an intellectual abyss, many academics have both financial and personal interest in significantly delaying retirement or rejecting it altogether.

But Philip Schrodt says that if you’re honest, “You just know when it’s time to quit.” And that’s what the former professor of political science at Pennsylvania State University has done, after 40 years in academe (and 31 years as a tenured professor). A day after receiving his last paycheck from Penn State, Schrodt took to his blog to explain why he decided to retire at 62.

The post, called Going Feral! Or ‘So Long and Thanks for All the Fish' (the latter part a reference to the Douglas Adams book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) is funny and biting in its critique of academe and professors of his generation who have lost their passion for their jobs but are hanging on to their paychecks. It’s also attracting lots of attention for its unorthodox take on tenure, at least from a tenured professor. ... "I’ve left to pursue other opportunities and get my fat Boomer butt out of the way. ... Or as I prefer to think of it, ‘going feral.’” ...

After a certain point, he says, it’s simply someone else’s turn. ... The political scientist also attributes part of his decision to retire now to Penn State, which he calls “phenomenally weird, following a North Korean governance model without the transparency” and an “authoritarian hellhole.”