You Are Reading the Blog of a Chump

Remember the other day, when I was saying nice things about the presidents of Washington and Washington State Universities for refusing pay raises, or taking a pay cut? Man, what good examples!

Then I got this week's Chronice of Higher Education. Hey, guess which university presidents have the highest base pay in the country?

1. David P. Rosell, Delaware: $2,377,000
   
2. E. Gordon Gee, Ohio State: $775,000
   
3. Mark Emmert, University of Washington: $603,120
   
4. Elson S. Floyd, Washington State University: $600,000

#3 and #4 in the county. Not bad for government work. The pictures gets even rosier when you consider that Emmert is also #3 in the country for deferred compensation; he's got a cool $250,000 still coming to him, eventually.

So that made me go hmmm. Then I turend the page and met this headline:

For a Raise, Try Looking in the Evergreen State

....which goes on to cite the state of Washington as a great, great place to be a university president. There's a defense of the salaries paid, Emmert's especially, as being the price you have to pay to keep talent. I don't disagree.

But when the state is looking at a $5 billion dollar hole big salaries raise eyebrows, and those are big salaries.

Read more here, if any.

College Presidents Take Lead on Salary Issues--No Raises for Them!

This I like, from the Spokesman-Review:

With state colleges and universities facing the potential for historic budget cuts, the president of Washington State University is taking a $100,000 salary cut.

WSU's Board of Regents voted to approve Elson S. Floyd's pay cut Friday, upon his request.

"These are exceedingly tough times for my students, faculty and staff," Floyd said. "We will be asking them to think more creatively and work harder with less as we deal with budgetary restraints.

"It is incumbent upon me to lead by example."

Similarly, the president of the University of Washington has also decided not to take a scheduled pay raise.

The cynics of the world might note that in Floyd's first year on the job he made $600,000, and that the pay cut is really a cancellation of a pay raise, and he'll still go up $25,000. That said, gestures matter an awful lot in times like this, and it's great to see a school leader take the lead like this.

Read more here, if any.

Ya Think?

Headline from the Friday Seattle Times:

Will Economy Hurt UW, WSU Stadium Plans?

Well, it damned well better. That, and both teams stinking. If teachers lose their jobs while the University of Washington and their billion-dollar endowment get a new football palace, then our priorities are waaaaaaaaaay out of whack.

Read more here, if any.

You Can Tell It's Apple Cup Week....

....because there's a big uptick in searches coming in from Google for "Wazzu Sucks" and "University of Washington Sucks."

Check out David Duffey's Bottom 10 column for more smack on the upcoming pillow fight between the Huskies and Cougars. The caption for the game: "They Can't Get Along, So They're Gonna Get It Wrong!"

Hooray football!

Read more here, if any.