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November 02, 2009

Rensselaer's Jackson Tops Million-Dollar Private-College Presidents

Twenty-three private-college presidents were paid more than $1-million in the 2007-8 school year, led by Shirley Ann Jackson, head of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, according to a Chronicle of Higher Education pay survey.

Ms. Jackson earned just shy of $1.6-million. She took a voluntary 5-percent cut for the current fiscal year. Rensselaer officials defended her compensation, citing the success of a $1.4-billion fund-raising campaign, an influx of star faculty members, and more than $690-million in new building and renovation projects at the Troy, N.Y., campus.

Median pay for the 419 college presidents included in the analysis was $358,746, up 6.5 percent from 2006-7. (A median figure indicates that half of the leaders made more and half made less.)

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Monday November 2, 2009 | Permalink

Comments

1. Bull crap.

   I suppose the University received most of the $1.4 billion from personal contacts of Ms. Jackson, recruited distinguished professors solely due to her leadership, and otherwise wouldn’t have attended to facilities growth or upkeep.

   This is boilerplate PR puff. Qualified, accomplished and dedicated college presidents are available for a hell of a lot less than $1.6 million.

   — Jeff Steele    Nov 2, 05:13 PM    #

2. We hear so much in the news about possible overcompansation of a small number of nonprofit leaders. What about the much larger issue of UNDERpaid nonprofit employees? Many employees at nonprofits work difficult jobs for little pay and few benefits. They are oftentimes providing much-needed services that are not available anywhere else. We should be more concerned about ensuring that qualified, hard-working nonprofit employees are being fairly compensated than with debating whether a few are overcompansated.

   — Jennifer O'Donnell    Nov 3, 01:55 PM    #

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