The Tiger

Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Opinion

In times like these where work seems harder to come by or keep, the pay is lower and the hours are fewer, dwelling on how "the other half lives" is practically a matter of reflex.

It's predictably easy to vent our frustrations on people who don't seem affected by our kinds of problems, and, as such, it's also predictable that our venting isn't always as righteous as we might think.

With this in mind, it's only natural to expect some anger when you read about a recent study which found that pay packages for presidents at public universities rose nearly 8 percent this year.

It's only natural to question the sincerity and dedication of a university's president to mitigate the effects of the economic downturn on students, faculty and staff when that president received a publicly funded pay raise.

But let's not be too hasty in our judgments.

Our natural responses to news like this aren't always the ones we should stick with.

Usually, whenever we think we have a situation all figured out it means we haven't thought hard enough about it.

So let's think harder about it. The easiest way to do that is to look deeper into the facts of the matter.

Earlier this week, the Chronicle for Higher Education - a newspaper dedicated to colleges and universities - released a study which found that pay packages for presidents at public universities rose an average of 7.6 percent this year.

The Chronicle gathered salary information on university presidents through public records.

According to the report, President James Barker's total compensation rose from $411,430 to $430,438 this fiscal year.

It's important to note that this figure represents both the publicly funded and privately funded portions of his salary among other compensations.

President Barker's publicly funded salary is less than half of the total compensation figure given above, and that portion of his salary rose $6,200 this year, according to the Chronicle's report.

Still, the question remains: Did President Barker need that pay raise?

What does the raise say about his pledge, found in the Budget Impact section of the President's Office Web page, to "work together as One Clemson" to overcome the financial crisis?

Here's where we need to remember that President Barker received the pay raise before this economic turmoil set in and the budget cuts to the University were announced.

Given Clemson's $25 million budget cuts in the next fiscal year, it seems that the public portion of his salary will be reduced as well.

If it isn't reduced, then you can probably expect righteous indignation from students, faculty and staff.

Some people have suggested that President Barker's furlough should be longer than those required by other Clemson employees as a gesture of his commitment to solving the budget crisis.

However, this suggestion would do more harm than good.

All Clemson employees who are required to take the furlough are obligated by law to take the same amount of time in unpaid leave.

If President Barker were to increase the duration of his own furlough, he'd be legally required to increase everyone else's.

As is, the five-day furlough required of Clemson employees is projected to save $5 million in the next fiscal year, according to a statement from President Barker.

Others feel he should "take one for the team" and put the pay raise back into the University to help alleviate the budget cuts.

This kind of concern seems mostly to suggest that what Clemson needs is a strong symbolic gesture from its president that he's willing to do his part to show us through the budget cuts.

Well, it seems as though he's doing just that.

President Barker recently announced a donation fund for Clemson employees who will be most affected by the coming furloughs, aptly named the One Clemson Furlough Relief Fund.

According to a statement issued by President Barker, the fund is geared toward helping Clemson employees closest to or below the poverty line first and foremost.

All Clemson faculty and staff required to take part in the furlough can apply for relief, and anonymous donations are accepted from students, faculty, staff and alumni.

In a recent video address to the University, President Barker said that donations from himself and his wife Marcia were the first to be put into the fund.

This seems like the kind of symbolic gesture that we should rightly expect out of our University's president.

While we can't know the exact amount of the donation made by President Barker due to the anonymous process for donating, we can at least take comfort in the fact that he has shown commitment to the people who are getting the short end of the stick from the budget cuts.

Furthermore, a quick glance at the Budget Impact section of the President's Office Web site reveals dozens of suggestions and comments from Clemson students, faculty and staff about ways to tighten the University's belt over the next fiscal year.

Some of those suggestions include the kind of relief fund that's already up and running.

President Barker doesn't seem to be asking for comments and suggestions from us merely as a form of damage control, he seems genuinely interested in this University's welfare.

He seems to rightly understand that making it through these massive budget cuts requires input from people at every level and from every perspective.

So let's not fly off the handle with bitterness at how "the other half lives" in this case.

As it turns out, "the other half" seems just as concerned about getting all of us through this together.

If we hold any indignation against the president for his pay raise, we can keep our eyes fixed on his salary for the next fiscal year to see whether or not we're justified.

At the very least, let's use that kind of bitterness as a springboard for empathy.

After all, there are plenty of people who work on this campus who would consider us "the other half," no matter where we fall on the socio-economic spectrum.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools