Ivory Towers of Greed
Eric | March 1, 2007I ran across this article about the absurd level of compensation university presidents (and top administrators) collect as part of their, uh, presidential duties. I was a little disheartened to learn that the salaries many of these guys collect are on par with many corporate executives.
Vanderbilt University’s chancellor, E. Gordon Gee collected $1.4 million in salary, plus $6 million in renovations to his official residence and $700,000 in “entertaining expenses”. The University of California system shelled out $334 million in salaries and perks for top administrators. Why so high? Audrey Doberstein of Wilmington College rakes in $1.4 million
So what do University officials say about executive compensation?
Maryland publishes an annual salary guide, and none of the salaries listed there are what I would call outrageous. I would like to see public publish some sort of budget overview that shows how much schools pay towards various salaries, maintenance and so forth just so we know where our tuition and tax dollars go.
I sometimes wonder how much Peter Kirstein makes? Anyone know?
So… does Steve Jobs’ $1/yr salary make him a good guy, or a bad guy… in light of the $647M he made off restricted stock?
A salary doesn’t make someone good or bad. What matters is what they make off of the suffering of others. University admins are getting raises, cutting student benefits/services and raising costs without any regard for the consequences for us (the students!). That’s greed. Making 600 million on paper is not greed, its money that can’t be spent.