The number of presidents of private universities earning more than $500,000 in pay and benefits more than doubled between the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 academic years, according to a survey published in the Nov. 22 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The Chronicle survey, published in an edition of the magazine that hit newsstands yesterday, reported that the number of private university presidents making over half a million dollars numbered 27 in the 2000-2001 academic year—the latest for which data is available.
Harvard’s former president, Neil L. Rudenstine, earned a salary of $387,591 in his last full year in office, placing his pay in the bottom half of Ivy League presidential salaries, according to the survey.
In total, Rudenstine received $421,081, including $33,490 in benefits. His salary increased from $352,650 in 1999-2000 to the $387,591 figure in 2000-2001.
The highest-paid private university president in 2001, the University of Pennsylvania’s Judith Rodin, received a total of $808,021 in compensation. Princeton University’s former president Harold T. Shapiro received the second-highest compensation—without severance pay—at $705,683. The Johns Hopkins University president’s salary ranked third at $677,564.
No information is available regarding University President Lawrence H. Summers’ salary, as the survey only includes salaries prior to June 30, 2001.
Harvard spokesperson Joe Wrinn would not comment on the survey, which is compiled from tax records filed annually by universities with the IRS.
“Compensation is a private individual matter between the Corporation and the president,” Wrinn said. “Individual compensation is an individual decision up to the individual institution.”
Former Harvard President Derek C. Bok published an essay in the same issue of The Chronicle criticizing university presidential salaries.
In the essay, Bok questioned whether such high salaries are necessary to attract university presidents. He argued that college presidents are primarily motivated by a desire to have an impact on their campus.
“For them, the real appeal of the job is the chance to make a difference, to
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