Penn State's Spanier got $2.3 million in compensation
Pennsylvania State University's former president Graham Spanier received $2.3 million in compensation last year, more than any leader of a public university, a Chronicle of Higher Education survey found.
Spanier, a tenured faculty member on administrative leave, stepped down as president in 2011. He was later indicted on charges including conspiracy and perjury in what prosecutors said was a cover-up of ex-football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky's sexual assault of boys. Spanier has pleaded not guilty in the pending case.
Spanier's compensation included $1.7 million in taxable payouts from a discontinued life-insurance program that reflect 16 years of service, according to Lisa Powers, a Penn State spokeswoman. Another $600,000 was annual pay he is contractually entitled to under an employment agreement running through November 2017, Powers said.
"There has obviously been a confluence of extraordinary circumstances that has caused this to occur and we certainly look forward to getting past these challenges," Powers said.
Forty-two former presidents, such as Spanier, remain on public-college payrolls, many as advisers to the current leaders or as professors, the Chronicle found. Spanier, through his lawyer Libby Locke, declined to comment.
Two other public college presidents made more than $1 million, according to the Chronicle survey, which documented compensation for the year ended June 30.
Penn State's Rodney Erickson, who succeeded Spanier and left the presidency last May, received $1.5 million. Erickson's pay included $586,000 related to the discontinued life insurance plan, the Chronicle said. It also reflected compensation due to his retirement after 37 years of service, as well as $125,000 for unused vacation and sick time, Powers said.
Texas A&M University's R. Bowen Loftin, who departed in January, received $1.12 million. A spokesman for the school declined to comment.
Amid rising tuition and student debt, such pay packages have drawn criticism from professors and lawmakers. As more business people sit on public university boards, executive contracts are beginning to mirror those in the private sector, said Raymond Cotton, a pay consultant at Mintz Levin in Washington. Public college presidents' median pay rose 7 percent last year, to $428,000, the Chronicle found.
"Someone might argue that university presidents should be socially motivated and care little about monetary income," said Ge Bai, an accounting professor at Washington & Lee University who has studied executive compensation. "But quite often strong candidates are in short supply, and many of them have multiple attractive options."
Ohio State University paid interim President Joseph Alutto $996,169. His compensation included $318,754 of unused vacation and sick time, said Gary Lewis, a university spokesman.
Michael Drake, Ohio State's new president, is "holding tuition and fees flat, expanding need-based grants and working with our board of trustees to reexamine executive compensation all as part of a push for a more affordable and frugal university," Lewis said in an e-mail.