Top UC administrators receive pay raise

Friday, October 2, 1998

Top UC administrators receive pay raise

REGENTS: Salaries still below national average, but increase
closes gap

By Edina Lekovic

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

As of Oct. 1, regent approved salary increases for senior
administrators went into effect in an attempt to bring UC pay to
levels deemed competitive with other major research
institutions.

Approved in open session at the last UC Board of Regents’
meeting on Sept. 18, UC administrators who are eligible will
receive an average 3.5 percent increase.

As a result, UC President Richard Atkinson will receive a
$47,000 annual pay increase. Up 18 percent, his is the most
significant of all approved raises.

This salary increase comes largely because of an independent
report completed by William M. Mercer, Inc., which indicates that
UC chancellors earn 32.5 percent less on average than their peers
at other U.S. research universities.

The Board supported this move as an "effort to keep the
University of California competitive in attracting top leadership,"
said UC spokesperson Brad Hayward.

Other officials receiving pay increases include not only the UC
chancellors but also various faculty members.

Among these officials are UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale and
UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl, who received similar pay
increases (from $230,000 to $271,400).

The compensation report also stated that UC chancellors earn an
average annual salary of $214,456 – those in the comparison group
make an average $284,116.

Approved by all regents except for two, Antonio Villaraigosa and
Max Espinoza, this salary increase is the first step in a
three-year plan designed to bring UC salaries up to the comparable
levels of other universities.

The report compared UC schools to 26 public and private research
universities across the nation, including Harvard University, the
University of Michigan, Stanford University and Yale
University.

And with this recent salary increase, the disparity between
salaries at UC and these institutions in comparison will drop to
12.2 percent.

In addition to Atkinson and all nine UC chancellors, other UC
officials and faculty also received merit increases.

All positions with annual salaries of $160,000 or higher,
including vice presidents, medical center directors, vice
chancellors and deans, were eligible for the increase.

However, chancellorial compensation was the main goal of this
motion, bringing UC salaries up to at least the median salaries of
other institutions surveyed in the report, according to the
California Post-secondary Education Commission.

"There is a very limited pool of qualified senior managers in
American higher education, and the growing compensation gap has
made it more difficult for the UC to remain competitive in
recruiting new leadership," said Judith Boyette, UC associate vice
president for human resources and benefits.

The salary increases were provided by the 1998-99 California
State budget, signed into law by Governor Pete Wilson in
August.

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© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board