Public university presidents paid privately...

I found this a bit disturbing, being a graduate of a public university m'self.

Money passage:

"Only $259,160 -- less than half of Mr. Emmert's annual compensation -- now comes from state funds. A larger portion comes from private sources affiliated with the university: the LSU Foundation and the Tiger Athletic Foundation. They will pay him an annual salary supplement of $230,840, and an additional $100,000 each year if he stays through the end of his contract, which ends in 2007.

In Texas, most of Mr. Yudof's compensation also comes from private sources, as does a good share of Mr. Shumaker's package in Tennessee. Indeed, private money is gaining increasing power in compensating public-university chiefs. That trend has prompted questions about who oversees those leaders and whether donors will have undue influence over them, especially since private sources of funds often are shielded from public scrutiny."


I think I'd feel better if the majority of a public official's salary actually came from public funds; might actually convince me that he had the public's best interest at heart (a bit of naive cynicism on my part there, I realize). But then again, when the school's private athletic foundation, aka overgrown football booster club, pays the president's salary, you can rest assured knowing your university's priorities are in order.

-tn

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