September 27, 2011
Board of Regents responds to Governor’s request to defer Presidential salary increases
SALT LAKE CITY – In a letter to the Board of Regents today, Governor Herbert has requested that the Board defer their recent action on presidential salaries until a planned comprehensive study is completed. In response to Governor Herbert’s request, Chair David Jordan released the following statement today:
One of the most important responsibilities of the Board of Regents is the recruitment and retention of presidents to lead our public colleges and universities. It is clear from available survey data that our presidential salaries are as much as 30 percent below the average of peer institutions. We are also aware that our presidents are regularly recruited by other states for significantly higher compensation. Based on these facts, the Regents took action on September 16th to begin addressing this issue. The action was two-fold, first, we announced the initiation of a comprehensive study on presidential compensation, and second, the Board voted to make some initial compensation adjustments in anticipation of this study.
We appreciate Governor Herbert’s leadership and his strong commitment to advancing higher educational opportunities for Utah citizens. Given his expressed concerns, and those raised by others, the Board of Regents will convene a special meeting to consider deferring salary increases until after the full compensation study has been completed. We share the Governor’s confidence that, with all interested parties working together, we can establish a compensation policy that will keep Utah competitive in recruiting and retaining outstanding college and university presidents.
About The Utah System of Higher Education: USHE includes all of Utah’s eight public colleges and universities: The University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, Southern Utah University, Snow College, Dixie State College, Utah Valley University and Salt Lake Community College. For more information on the Utah System of Higher Education, visit our website at http://www.higheredutah.org.
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To download a .pdf of this news release statement, click here.
To download a .pdf of Governor Herbert’s letter, click here.
Posted by: psilberman
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