8 ms·

Rensselaer President Leads List of Highest-Paid Private College Leaders

25 points by johnny99 12y ago

danso 12y ago
Looking at the underlying app/data from the Chronicle, it's surprising to me that the presidents of Stanford, Harvard, and CalTech receive comparatively low pay (under $1M): http://chronicle.com/factfile/private-ec-2014#id=13995_243744 http://chronicle.com/factfile/private-ec-2014#id=13995_24374...
- davidgrenier 12y ago
  I would hope that it is because educated people would realize that above a certain amount, an increase in revenue is only an incentive to something illusory. http://www.pnas.org/content/107/38/16489.full.pdf&embedded=true http://www.pnas.org/content/107/38/16489.full.pdf&embedded=t...
- mathattack 12y ago
  I suspect that it's a trade of prestige for cash. If you're the president of any of those schools, the prestige follows you for life. You can always trade down on reputation for an increase in pay later. They will always have capable people willing to do the job, and universities are institutions where the head really doesn't have much power. (View it as the managing partner in a law firm, rather than the CEO of an industrial company. The managing partner works on the good graces of the governed. University presidents can only do what the tenured faculty allows.)
  - akgerber 12y ago
    Especially when being a college president generally already includes use of a mansion and a ton of free food and travel, so the college president can pretty much bank their entire salary.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
throw7 12y ago
It doesn't say what she's done for the college, other than she's been "fantastic". I suppose she's brought in a lot of money from fund raising and contacts she has. I wonder if she's liked by the faculty and students? Boards will often overlook a lot if the president brings home the bacon.
- CWuestefeld 12y ago
  I'm an alum and no longer have any association myself (I've even managed to lose myself so they can't call asking for donations). But I have friends still around, including at least one still on the staff. My impression is that the school, including staff and student body, has a pretty positive view of her.
  - andyhnj 12y ago
    I'm an RPI alum also, having graduated well before Jackson became president. The few people I know who are still actively involved with RPI don't like her much, and I think the inflated salary is a big part of the reason why. (Of course, most of the people I knew at RPI were malcontents to begin with, so maybe that's not a representative sample...)
    - CWuestefeld 12y ago
      Heh. I was such a malcontent, hence my quip about evading their donation request phone calls. My time there was well before Jackson, too - '84-'89.
  - sigmar 12y ago
    2011 alum here. When I was a student ('07-'11), Jackson was dislike by many (not all) students, and by some staff (hard to say how much). I was working for the student newspaper when Jackson unilaterally suspended the faculty senate, which created a ton of animosity. My understanding is that the student opinion of her got better after I graduated. (Info about the faculty senate if anyone is interested: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/02/aaup_blasts_rensselaer_polytechnic_institute_for_icing_shared_governance https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/02/aaup_blasts_r...)
abat 12y ago
She's not really the highest paid. Most of it was a 10 year grant that finally vested. If you amortize the money over the 10 years, she's not paid more than other presidents. If anything having the pay as a retention package was probably smart and a better deal for the university.
noblethrasher 12y ago
I'm more impressed that she makes almost as much as the highest paid NCAA coach[1]. [1] http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/ http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/
sigmar 12y ago
The Chronicle of Higher Ed has a more detailed story http://chronicle.com/article/Behind-RPIs-Highly-Paid/150441/ http://chronicle.com/article/Behind-RPIs-Highly-Paid/150441/ Of interest: "Most of the former top-level administrators at RPI who spoke with The Chronicle would do so only on the condition of anonymity, saying they still feared retaliation from Ms. Jackson because of her broad influence not only in higher education but also in politics and business. "
- johnny99 12y ago
  That's warped. Not that I have illusions about academic collegiality (I've worked in higher education), but that sounds more like the behavior of a certain car service's execs, not a university president.

25 points by johnny99 12y ago

danso 12y ago

Looking at the underlying app/data from the Chronicle, it's surprising to me that the presidents of Stanford, Harvard, and CalTech receive comparatively low pay (under $1M): http://chronicle.com/factfile/private-ec-2014#id=13995_243744 http://chronicle.com/factfile/private-ec-2014#id=13995_24374...

davidgrenier 12y ago
I would hope that it is because educated people would realize that above a certain amount, an increase in revenue is only an incentive to something illusory. http://www.pnas.org/content/107/38/16489.full.pdf&embedded=true http://www.pnas.org/content/107/38/16489.full.pdf&embedded=t...
mathattack 12y ago
I suspect that it's a trade of prestige for cash. If you're the president of any of those schools, the prestige follows you for life. You can always trade down on reputation for an increase in pay later. They will always have capable people willing to do the job, and universities are institutions where the head really doesn't have much power. (View it as the managing partner in a law firm, rather than the CEO of an industrial company. The managing partner works on the good graces of the governed. University presidents can only do what the tenured faculty allows.)
- akgerber 12y ago
  Especially when being a college president generally already includes use of a mansion and a ton of free food and travel, so the college president can pretty much bank their entire salary.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

throw7 12y ago

It doesn't say what she's done for the college, other than she's been "fantastic". I suppose she's brought in a lot of money from fund raising and contacts she has. I wonder if she's liked by the faculty and students? Boards will often overlook a lot if the president brings home the bacon.

CWuestefeld 12y ago
I'm an alum and no longer have any association myself (I've even managed to lose myself so they can't call asking for donations). But I have friends still around, including at least one still on the staff. My impression is that the school, including staff and student body, has a pretty positive view of her.
- andyhnj 12y ago
  I'm an RPI alum also, having graduated well before Jackson became president. The few people I know who are still actively involved with RPI don't like her much, and I think the inflated salary is a big part of the reason why. (Of course, most of the people I knew at RPI were malcontents to begin with, so maybe that's not a representative sample...)
  - CWuestefeld 12y ago
    Heh. I was such a malcontent, hence my quip about evading their donation request phone calls. My time there was well before Jackson, too - '84-'89.
- sigmar 12y ago
  2011 alum here. When I was a student ('07-'11), Jackson was dislike by many (not all) students, and by some staff (hard to say how much). I was working for the student newspaper when Jackson unilaterally suspended the faculty senate, which created a ton of animosity. My understanding is that the student opinion of her got better after I graduated. (Info about the faculty senate if anyone is interested: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/02/aaup_blasts_rensselaer_polytechnic_institute_for_icing_shared_governance https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/02/aaup_blasts_r...)

abat 12y ago

She's not really the highest paid. Most of it was a 10 year grant that finally vested. If you amortize the money over the 10 years, she's not paid more than other presidents. If anything having the pay as a retention package was probably smart and a better deal for the university.

noblethrasher 12y ago

I'm more impressed that she makes almost as much as the highest paid NCAA coach[1]. [1] http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/ http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/

sigmar 12y ago

The Chronicle of Higher Ed has a more detailed story http://chronicle.com/article/Behind-RPIs-Highly-Paid/150441/ http://chronicle.com/article/Behind-RPIs-Highly-Paid/150441/ Of interest: "Most of the former top-level administrators at RPI who spoke with The Chronicle would do so only on the condition of anonymity, saying they still feared retaliation from Ms. Jackson because of her broad influence not only in higher education but also in politics and business. "

johnny99 12y ago
That's warped. Not that I have illusions about academic collegiality (I've worked in higher education), but that sounds more like the behavior of a certain car service's execs, not a university president.