Oxford and Cambridge universities can force old professors to retire in order to boost diversity, a 'significant' tribunal ruling suggests. According to a report in The Daily Telegraph, Professor John Pitcher, a leading Shakespeare scholar and fellow at St John’s College at Oxford, claimed that he had been unfairly pushed out at age 67 to make way for younger and more ethnically diverse academics. He sued the college and university for age discrimination and unfair dismissal, claiming loss of earnings of £100 000 – but Judge Bedeau dismissed both claims. Pitcher, now aged 70, claimed that he was ‘forcibly retired’ under the university’s Employer Justified Retirement Age (EJRA) policy. Pitcher had argued that it was ‘degrading and humiliating’ to have to re-apply for his job after ‘decades of impeccable service’. The default retirement age of 65 was axed by the government in 2011 but an employer can set its own compulsory retirement age if it is in the interests of the institution. Bedeau said the Pitcher case ‘exemplifies’ the ‘much vexed question’ for employers of how to create opportunities ‘for the advancement of those in its workforce from different backgrounds to achieve their full potential’ while at the same time ‘balancing the needs and interests of those in senior positions who desire to remain employed’. Jahad Rahman, a partner at Rahman Lowe Solicitors, said the tribunal ruling may pave the way for other universities to impose retirement on older academics. Cambridge and St Andrew’s are the only other major British universities to have EJRA policies in place. Pitcher has six weeks to appeal the judgment.