Cutting Back to Solidarity: Administrator salary reductions can give UC financial relief, boost campus morale

Clarification: The original version of this column was misleading. In addition to the $250 million the UC stands to lose if the “trigger” is pulled in the fall, there is the option of a 6 percent tuition hike, that would take effect next fall.

Given that much of the rhetoric surrounding the California budget crisis is critical of the state, students might be surprised to know that in some areas, California is doing just as well as other states.

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently released a report ranking and comparing the salaries of top administrators at American public universities. Surprisingly, the salary of University of California President Mark Yudof is about average.

But with potential cuts to the UC budget of $250 million looming in November, falling within the realm of “average” is no longer enough.

In addition to the $250 million the UC stands to lose if the “trigger” is pulled in the fall, there is the option of a 6 percent tuition hike, that would take effect next fall.

While cutting administrator pay certainly could never completely fill the gaps in the UC system budget, what it would demonstrate is an administrative willingness to stand by students and professors during hard times.

According to the data, Yudof makes $581,232 annually, making him the highest paid public university administrator in the state of California. Furthermore, the median senior public university administrator salary throughout the country in 2011 was $421,395 ““ not a terribly far cry from Yudof’s salary or that of UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, who made $409,066 last year.

While these salaries certainly seem reasonable in light of the $1,992,221 the president of Ohio State University made, it still surpasses the average salary of a full-time professor at UCLA, which comes in around $203,000.

Cutting administrator pay may seem like only a surface solution for what is going on in California. And it would be, if that was the only step being taken to cut spending.

What it could be, in fact, is a supplementary means of both saving money and supporting campus morale. It will prove that keeping administrators happy with comfortable salaries comes secondary ““ or better yet, way down the list ““ to the UC’s first priority: its students.

Compensation decisions for campus-level administrators as well as those working at a systemwide level are made through the UC Office of the President, said Steve Ritea, assistant director of UCLA Media Relations.

If the UC Office of the President were to consider making reasonable reductions ““ 1 or 2 percent ““ to senior administrator pay across the board, it might also help students to sense a more compassionate side of what they may feel is a distant bureaucratic body.

Steve Montiel, director of media relations for the UC Office of the President, said the office takes salary rates very seriously. The UC Office of the President has an entire website devoted to explaining how its processes work, and it makes sure to analyze both labor markets and comparable research universities when determining compensation.

“Whenever there are compensation items to be approved by the regents, there is always a chart showing where that pay ranks ““ whether it’s above or below market average,” Montiel said.

But while analysis in hopes of achieving competitive or average salaries is all good and well when the budget is intact, we are currently too deep in the red. Even more, these salaries are “average” within a system that is already inflated ““ their range is both too high and well above the median standard of living.

The UC has managed to survive and maintain academic quality while making cuts before, and it needs make them again if administrators want to protect the integrity of the education the system provides.

With successive salary reductions of 5 and 10 percent for senior administrators and 4 percent for lower-salary employees, the UC saved approximately $236 million from September 2009 through August 2010, according to the UC’s Annual Report on Executive Compensation for 2010.

That is almost enough money to make up for the cuts without having to further increase tuition.

A pay cut of any sizable percentage for all administrators in the UC would not only save the system millions, but would also serve as an opportunity for the UC to simultaneously boost morale while preserving the caliber of education it currently offers.

Email Tashman at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected] or tweet us @DBOpinion.