The Daily Texan, May 1, 2008, Thursday

The Daily Texan

May 1, 2008, Thursday

The Daily Texan

Presidential salaries growing exponentially at college level

By Maya Srikrishnan

University presidents' salaries are growing faster than others in academia and are beginning to resemble the salary growth of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies.

Over the past five presidencies, beginning in 1979, the salary for the position of UT president has increased from $66,500 to $552,500

The median total annual compensation for the sample of 182 leaders of public research universities and public university systems in 2006-2007 was $397,349, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. UT President William Powers earned $552,500 last year.

Ronald Ehrenberg, professor of economics and industrial and labor relations at Cornell University, said the job of public university presidents is growing more difficult but that the biggest reason for the drastic salary increases is competition from private higher education institutions.

"The job of private sector presidents is much easier because they have to raise money but don't have to deal with the state," Ehrenberg said. "The salaries for presidents in private [universities] were much higher than public, so there was a continual stream of presidents from public universities going to private universities over the past 15 years."

He cited Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia University, as an example. Bollinger left the University of Michigan in 2001 and now works at the New York City Ivy League university.

Powers said he thinks the president's job at public universities is more complex than at private universities. He said in addition to dealing with faculty, students and alumni, public universities have a legislative set of issues.

"There are many things on my plate that would not be there if it were a private university," he said. "We have to deal with state auditors, which private universities do not."

Larry Faulkner, UT president from 1998 to 2005, said he thinks the pay increase is what institutions feel it takes to keep people in the job of university president - a 14-hour-a-day job with a lot of exposure.

"It's a job that takes a remarkable amount of stamina," he said. "As the job has become progressively more demanding for time, public exposure, relentlessness and pace, the salary requirements have risen. People won't do it for just the honor of doing it."

Peter Flawn, UT president from 1979 to 1985 and interim president from 1997 to 1998, said the job is difficult but is not any more challenging than it was during his time in office.

Flawn said the competition for top people to fill administrator positions is driving the salary increase.

"I think the salaries have gotten out of line," he said. "To me, salary was never important. I enjoyed what I was doing, and I would've done it for less money than they paid me."

He said he thinks more money should be invested in the faculty, who play a central role in the University's ranking.

UT president from 1993 to 1997 Robert Berdahl said the increasing salary is a consequence of people recognizing the job's challenges but that he finds the annual pay worrisome.

"Salaries of university presidents have gone up everywhere faster than other salaries and faster on average than faculty salaries," Berdahl said. "I think there should be a more constant relationship between faculty salaries and senior administrative salaries."

However, if presidential salaries at universities do not remain competitive, each school could face a crisis, he said.

"Unfortunately, it's much more expensive to raise all the salaries of the faculty at a university a little bit than it is to raise the salary of an administrator," Ehrenberg said.

If a university with 5,000 faculty members gives its president a $100,000 raise, the same amount of money would only result in a $20 raise for each member of its faculty.

"Although these presidents are getting raises, university budgets are very little," Ehrenberg said. "So universities make the choice to keep the presidency competitive. It would be really nice if we could find people who would be willing to do these jobs for less compensation."

William Cunningham, UT president from 1985 to 1992, said there is nothing unusual about the rise in university presidential salaries.

"I think there has been a big growth in faculty salaries, too. Salaries have gone up for everybody," he said. "Salaries always go up for people who are in demand. I have no reason to believe administrative salaries have gone up more than other salaries have."

Despite the opinions of former presidents, Powers said he feels he is fairly compensated for his work.

He said the competition for administrative and faculty positions in universities and the complexities of the jobs have driven up salaries.

"Faculty, deans, provosts, vice presidents, presidents - these are very complex jobs," Powers said. "To get people to do them, you've got to compensate them."