The-Ave.US

When and if the regents choose to pay an inordinate salary to the next UW president, I assume that their motivation may be that the new super hero must be able to be respected by the crowd at Palm Springs.  That respect is hard to achieve on a professor’s salary.  I hope, however, that the search committee understands that whatever pay they give the new UW President, he or she will need the respect not only of potentially rich donors in Palm Springs but of the UW faculty. That respect means the new leader needs to have academic credibility that justifies an extra decimal place or two.

The table highlights the 15 private nonprofit universities where the president's compensation costs the most on a per student basis, according to compensation data from the Chronicle of Higher Education and U.S. News's enrollment data, sorted from highest cost to lowest. This analysis was conducted on the 351 private nonprofit schools that provided enrollment data in U.S. News's 2010 survey, omitting schools where presidents were retiring or stepping aside since vacating presidents often receive a large monetary infusion when they leave their position. The average cost per student among institutions with a sitting president was $135.11.

From US News and World Report (adapted)

Academic presidential salaries continue to be embarrassingly high  in a time when students are seeing ever-increasing tuition and faculty are facing loss of their jobs, freezes or reductions in pay.  At  small private schools the executive salary can cost more than $600 per student. (see table below) This math reduces Dr. Emmert’s salary of nearly a million dollars to only about $30.

The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, a trade group for private schools,  maintains that  “Presidential salaries make up a very small percentage of overall campus budgets and have virtually no impact on tuition increases.”

The actual numbers in the report, however belie this claim. The cost PER student at some schools of having a President, based on salary alone can be as much as $600!  Moreover, the table seems to me to suggest a disconnect between the staure of the private school and the pay received by its chief executive.

There is moreover another issue here.  The purpose of any college or university is its academic function.  To be effective in leading that effort, a President needs to be able to make policy in concert with her faculty.  I am skeptical that salaries four to ten times those received by the most prominent faculty can not interfere with the recipient’s ego .

A personal anecdote may illustrate why I see this as a concern.

Some years ago I was a witness to a confrontation between a UW Dean and a faculty member.  While I will keep identities aside, this faculty would rank at the highest possible level not only in academia but in any gathering of global elites.  The Dean was not a person of much academic achievement. What struck me as farcical was that this Dean, not the faculty member, needed to be called by a title, to take pre-eminence of position at the conference table, and, to use a phrase from the military, needed to be respected for his rank. This Dean was a good administrator, and worth respect for that role, but the conflict was over academic issues. The Dean’s decision, which ended with the UW losing this faculty member, was hard to accept and still causes bitterness, because the Dean lacked the personal prestige needed to have this judgment accepted.

*Compensation data reflects the 2008 calendar year.