Dive Brief:
- University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono has donated his bonus to charity every year since he was hired in 2012.
- This year, his $200,000 will go to 14 different organizations and scholarships, along with the family of a fallen Ohio police officer.
- The Huffington Post reports that three of those organizations included the university’s LGBTQ center, a local STEM high school, and a program for first-generation college students.
Dive Insight:
Highly paid university presidents across the country have made headlines for publicly donating their raises or bonuses. Just this week, the president of Kansas University announced he would donate his 2% raise to the university’s staff awards program.
Earlier this year, the incoming president of the University of Texas at Austin turned down a $1 million offer for a base salary of $750,000. In that case, Gregory Fenves said the $1 million salary would be hard to justify at a public university. The University of Texas has had sometimes-contentious debates with state legislators about funding, as have public systems in most states. This year, the benefits packages for public school leaders have also come under fire for being too generous.