Eric Frey
Recent reports have highlighted a trend in which the salaries of American university presidents have been rapidly increasing over the course of the past decade, with some incomes exceeding $1 million per year. While the president's position is a crucial one to a university, impacting everything from efforts to gain fund raising and endowments to a school's academic direction, the recent salary boom has resulted in disproportionately high compensation for these administrators. In light of the previously high income and numerous benefits that university presidents receive, as well as the stretched budgets of many universities, The Miami Student editorial board believes that presidents' salaries must be brought more in line with those of other faculty members.
While it is understood that market factors and competition for high quality administrators do force salary levels to rise over time, presidents' salaries have grown exponentially in recent years. The mission of institutions of higher education transcends the relatively narrow focus of profit-driven corporations. In this regard, exorbitant presidential salaries have helped give rise to corporate administrative attitudes, sometimes to the detriment of students' educational experiences.
Additionally, there appears to be no direct correlation between the rise in the salaries of these presidents and any increases in the prestige of their respective institutions. Furthermore, students are rarely motivated to attend a school because of the university's president. While it must be acknowledged that the impact of a president's decisions and fund raising can improve a university's educational experience, students are more directly concerned with the strength of a school's faculty members and departments.
In this vein, funds for salary increases should be directed toward increasing meager faculty salaries. Administration after administration has promised to increase professors' pay, however time and again, this has failed to satisfactorily occur. The call for higher faculty salaries is part of the need for a broader reassessment at Miami University about where our money is going. If we are in the midst of a budget crunch, it's important that the crunch affects all members of the university, rather than simply being passed on to students and professors.
University presidents should be driven by their desire to educate, not by their desire for a large paycheck. It was refreshing to see University of Cincinnati President Nancy Zimpher reject a raise this fall, which having already been approved by the UC board of trustees, would have almost doubled her salary. President David Hodge should follow her lead, channeling any future pay raises toward professors or departments. The emphasis at Miami must remain focused on improving the overall academic experience and administrators must diligently assess where salary increases will best facilitate this goal.
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