McDavis in the middle of presidential salary pack

In a survey of public-college presidents' pay across the United States that was just published by the Chronicle of Higher Education, Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee led the pack by several lengths, with an annual compensation package worth more than $1.3 million.

With added perks such as money paid into a retirement account, and car, house and expense account provisions, Gee's total cost to OSU in 2009-10 was over $1.8 million, according to the Chronicle; and the Columbus Dispatch reports that since the survey was done, Gee has received a pay bump that puts it up to $2 million.

Ohio University President Roderick J. McDavis, on the other hand, came in right near the middle of the 185 presidents included in the Chronicle survey. His total compensation for 2009-10, at $380,000, puts him at number 89, slightly above the median figure of around $375,000.

McDavis's "total cost of employment" to OU the number that for Gee was over $1.8 million in the Chronicle's survey was listed as $473,344.

McDavis was in the lower reaches of compensation for public-university presidents in Ohio, with seven of 10 earning more than he does.

The figures are included with a story that ran April 3 in the Chronicle, looking at the issue of presidential pay at state colleges. The story noted that these days the highest-paid public-university executives sometimes have to "walk a political tightrope" in trying to justify the size of their paychecks, at a time of fiscal crisis for many state governments.

"They must at once argue that their state budgets have been cut to the bone and need to be restored, while at the same time acknowledging their rarefied personal financial circumstances in states where layoffs, program closures, and pay reductions have been all too common," the article observed.

In the ranking of presidents by total compensation, Gee of Ohio State was something of an outlier. His figure of $1,323,911 put him a hefty 76 percent higher than the president in the number two slot, Francisco C. Cigarroa of the University of Texas system, who's at $750,000.

(The lowest president on the list Rita Cheng, of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale is likewise far off the curve. Her compensation of $28,425 in 2009-10 was less than a third the pay of the next-highest president.)

When the presidents are looked at in terms of the total cost to their universities of employing them, Gee was even further out front. With extras including $570,000 in accrued deferred compensation, $150,000 paid for him into a retirement plan, and a bonus of over $296,000 which was more than 46 presidents on the list earn in base pay Gee's total annual price tag for OSU came to more than $1.8 million.

The next highest name on the list, Mark A. Emmert of the University of Washington, cost his school a little over $905,000 annually to employ.

Looking just at public universities in Ohio, McDavis's compensation package placed him third from the bottom among the 10 presidents included, above David R. Hopkins of Wright State University ($344,448) and Gregory H. Williams of the University of Cincinnati ($333,333), and just below David C. Hodge of Miami University.

Hodge's base pay and total compensation of $380,000 were identical to those of McDavis, but his perks were slightly better including more in deferred accrued compensation and pay-ins toward retirement.

Below Gee in the number one spot in Ohio came Lester A. Lofton of Kent State University; Luis M. Proenza of the University of Akron; Ronald M. Berkman of Cleveland State University; Lloyd A. Jacobs of the University of Toledo; and Carol A. Cartwright of Bowling Green State University. The total compensation of these five ranged from about $570,000 to a little over $380,000.

McDavis, like many other college presidents on the list, enjoys some other perks; his include a $12,000 car allowance; the free use of a house; and a salary of more than $28,000 for his wife.

In 2008, the OU Board of Trustees caught some flak from some in the university community, when they voted to give McDavis a raise of more than $85,000, bringing him up to his current level. At the time, the board cited the fact that McDavis had the smallest paycheck among presidents of eight Ohio public colleges of similar size and mission.

The contract runs through 2013. McDavis was hired in 2004.

Critics at the time of the salary increase noted that in the two previous years, OU faculty had given McDavis two successive votes of "no confidence"; in the 2007 vote, 77 percent of professors who took part gave McDavis a failing grade for his performance.