University President Henry Bienen was one of the 25 best-paid private college presidents in 2003-04, according to a survey released Monday by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The weekly paper surveyed the salary information for the heads of 589 private institutions in its annual “What Leaders Make” feature. It used figures from the 2003-04 school year, the most recent year for which information was available.
NU paid Bienen $691,020 during 2003-04, including $97,770 in benefits, according to the paper. He made more than his counterparts at many of NU’s peer institutions: Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Mark Wrighton made $663,508 in that year, while Don M. Randel of the University of Chicago barely cracked the list’s top 30, making a little less than $600,000. The heads of Columbia, Duke, Cornell, Harvard, Stanford and Princeton universities also earned less than Bienen.
The president’s salary has more than doubled during his decade-long tenure at NU. In 1996-97, Bienen made $282,349. By comparison, Lawrence Summers of Harvard made $554,098 during his first year of service in 2003-04.
NU would not comment directly on Bienen’s salary, said Alan Cubbage, vice president for university relations.
A committee of the Board of Trustees sets the president’s salary each year. The group considers factors such as pay across academia and at competing universities, as well as length of service and the university’s performance, Cubbage told The Daily in November 2004.
According to the survey, presidential salaries have “risen sharply in recent years.” Five university heads made more than $1 million in 2003-04, The Chronicle reported. Competition with the corporate sector and the need for experienced leaders are fueling this escalating pay scale. But the high pay has caught the attention of the federal government, which is beginning to question the rationale behind the most lavish compensation packages.
Public university presidents fared slightly poorer than their private-school colleagues. Only eight public leaders managed to break the $600,000 barrier, and the overall median salary was $360,000. For all research universities, the median salary was about $470,000.
Reach Jordan Weissmann at [email protected].
