Dive Summary:
- Graham Spanier, the former Penn State University president fired in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal, topped the Chronicle of Higher Education's list of highest paid public university presidents for 2011-2012 with a total income of $2.9 million.
- Though Spanier's reported income includes severance and deferred compensation, a growing number of university presidents are making over $1 million, with the median pay package for university presidents growing 5% to $441,392 and the median base salary rising 2% to $373,800.
- Rounding out the top 5 on the list of 212 presidents at 191 institutions were Auburn University's Jay Gogue ($2,542,865), Ohio State University's E. Gordon Gee ($1,899,420), George Mason University's Alan G. Merten ($1,869,369) and Ball State University's Jo Ann M. Gora ($984,647).
From the article:
... Penn State said that including severance and deferred compensation in Spanier's total pay "skews the results."
"By including deferred compensation Spanier earned over his 16 years as president, which was part of an existing contract, the Chronicle survey obviously is not comparing 'apples to apples' with annual salaries of other presidents," a university spokeswoman said. ...