Chronicle data shows compensation in top 91st percentile
While the University’s institutional expenses ranked in the 87th percentile of private colleges in 2014, its executive compensation for then-University President Frederick Lawrence ranked in the 91st percentile, according to a recently-released set of data from the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Listing total monetary amounts from the calendar year, the data set includes information on more than 1,200 chief executives at more than 600 private colleges from the years 2008 to 2014, according to the Dec. 6 piece.
In 2014, Lawrence received a salary of $937,752, ranking him 47th in a list of 510 college presidents, per the Chronicle data set. This included a base pay of $723,440, as well as $86,409 in nontaxable income and $127,903 “other” income.
While Lawrence’s salary ranked in the 91st percentile for private colleges, the average Brandeis salary for what the Chronicle referred to as a “full-professor” for that same time period ranked in the 88th percentile, with an average total of $137,655.
However, Lawrence was not the University’s highest paid employee at the time. That honor went to former University President Jehuda Reinharz, who was paid $4,361,942 during that period.
Much of this amount paid to Reinharz — approximately $4.1 million — came as deferred compensation, while $811,000 was a payout for untaken sabbaticals during his tenure, according to a Jan. 23 BrandeisNOW article. “These amounts had been set aside in previous years’ budgets and will have no impact on the University’s current finances,” the article notes.
The size of Reinharz’s compensation brought student outrage when it was disclosed, according to a Nov. 11, 2013 Justice article, prompting the University to announce changes to its executive compensation policies. These changes included new procedures for compensating administrators and publicly disclosing presidential compensation to the faculty before the legally required date, per the “Statement of Compensation Philosophy,” which was adopted in January 2014.
“In adopting these changes, the Board simultaneously demonstrates its commitment to act in a fiscally responsible way [and] the need to retain qualified leadership and address concerns raised by faculty, students and alumni around past practice,” Prof. Sacha Nelson (BIOL) — then a faculty representative to the Board of Trustees — told BrandeisNOW at the time.
The 2014 compensation period also saw former Heller School Dean Lisa Lynch appointed University Provost in October, garnering her a salary of $379,810, according to the Chronicle. Lynch, who went on to serve as interim University President after Lawrence’s departure, also took a smaller salary during her yearlong tenure as president, earning approximately $587,612. This figure ranked her in the 7th percentile of presidential compensation for comparable institutions, according to a Mar. 1 Justice article. Comparatively, the University ranked in the 46th and 59th percentile for presidential compensation in 2014 and 2013, respectively, compared to the peer group of institutions.
“That was, in all honesty, a number [Lynch] wanted, and we agreed to pay her,” former Board of Trustees Chair Perry Traquina ’78 said in a presentation at a Feb. 26 faculty meeting, attributing the lower salary to Lynch’s interim status, according to the Justice article.
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