The Chronicle of Higher Education reported this week that President Cornelius M. Kerwin received a salary of over $1.4 million during the 2007-2008 fiscal year — a number that is inaccurate and misleading, according to the AU Board of Trustees.
In a memo sent to the AU community Monday, Board of Trustees Chairman Gary Abramson explained how the Chronicle miscalculated Kerwin’s salary.
“His compensation for that year included annual salary and benefits as well as a lump sum payout of deferred compensation, allocated and invested in a trust over nearly a decade,” Abramson said.
Starting in 2000 during his time as provost, a portion of Kerwin’s earnings each year was placed in a trust. He could not withdraw funds from it before he had served nine years with the university. In 2008, he could withdraw from the trust, and was required by his contract to take the complete amount it contained, about $800,000. The Chronicle added that nine-year investment to their calculation of his salary for a single year, which inflated his earnings, according to Abramson.
Though Kerwin was inaugurated as university president in September 2007, the Chronicle’s figures added in his earnings as interim president from the same year. Kerwin became president when his predecessor, Benjamin Ladner, was dismissed after an investigation into his expense account.
“Under President Kerwin, our academic and financial condition is stable and strong,” Senior Director of University Communications Camille Lepre said. “We are able to continue not just academic programs but many other programs that students participate in.”
The Chronicle also reported that overall, university presidents’ median pay increased by 6.5 percent in fiscal years 2007-2008.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said university presidents’ salaries need to be more reasonable.
“The fact that these salaries are growing right now is out of sync with the reality for most parents and students who are trying to pay for college in the midst of high unemployment,” Grassley said in a statement.
Updated Nov. 5, 2009 at 12:44 p.m.
