In the week since The Chronicle of Higher Education published its annual survey of university presidents' pay, several of the highest-paid presidents said that they would give back part of their pay or forgo their raises.

The chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis, Mark Wrighton, announced Thursday that he would take a 5 percent cut from his base salary on Jan. 1 and another cut on July 1.

Dr. Wrighton, who announced his decision in an e-mail, also pointed out that the university's endowment had dropped about 25 percent since July 1, that some capital projects were being delayed and that faculty salary increases would be lower than in past years.

Dr. Wrighton said he had a base salary of about $560,000 and a total compensation package of about $780,000.

"This was well under way before The Chronicle came out," he said. "I'm generously compensated; I know that."

On Tuesday, Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, and her husband made a $100,000 gift to the university. Dr. Gutmann was one of eight private-university presidents earning more than $1 million in 2006, according to the Chronicle survey.

Gerald Turner of Southern Methodist University ranked 19th on the national list of private university presidents with a salary of $877,000.

In Washington state, where there is talk of deep cuts in financing of higher education, the two highest-paid university presidents announced givebacks last week.

Mark Emmert, president of the University of Washington – and the nation's second-highest-paid public-university president with a salary of about $900,000 – declined a raise this year.

The president of Washington State University, Elson Floyd, who made $600,000 last year and received a $125,000 raise over the summer, said he would take a $100,000 pay cut.

Mark Yudof was fourth on the list of public university systems at $786,000 in his job as chancellor of the University of Texas System. He left in June for the University of California system.

From staff and wire reports

Print

E-mail

Create A Screen Name

Screen names can only consist of letters and numbers.
Your screen name will appear to everyone.

---

Leave Comment

Conversation guidelines: We welcome your thoughts and information related to this article. When leaving comments please stay on topic and be respectful of others.

You must be logged in to contribute. Log in | Register Now!

You are logged in as screenname | Log Out

You are logged in, but do not have a "screen" name. Update Your Profile

Showing:

Newest first Oldest first

---