[ Golden Gater Online - October 23, 1997 ]
Christine Walsh
Northeastern News (Northeastern U.)
BOSTON, Mass. -- Raking in almost $1 million in salary and benefits, former Northeastern President John A. Curry was the country's highest paid college president in 1995-96, according to a survey in this week's Chronicle of Higher Education.
Northeastern paid Curry $995,358, more than double the earnings of the next highest paid president, Joe Wyatt of Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Curry, who served as president from 1989 to 1996, received a base salary of $284,000. He will receive the additional $711,358 in benefits over the next three years, but federal law required Northeastern to report the full amount of the award in the year it was given.
"If you look at the 284 [thousand dollar base salary], it is consistent with the pay scales at other research universities," said Janet Hookailo, director of university relations.
The average pay and benefits for presidents at research universities was $333,239, according to the report.
Curry's benefits included $295,000 from the early retirement plan the university had at the time; a $295,000 buyout of his five-year teaching contract; $21,000 in deferred compensation and life insurance policies; and an extra $100,000 bonus from the Board of Trustees.
George Matthews, chair of the Board of Trustees, said a bonus like the one the Board gave Curry is typical in the business world.
"CEOs get large bonuses all the time," Matthews said. "We don't consider that a large bonus."
The bonus was the Board's way of thanking Curry for his 36 years of service to the university, and Matthews admitted that $100,000 may seem like a lot to students.
"It's not a lot and we thought about the students who were having trouble paying their bills and all that," Matthews said. "When we looked at it and what he brought to the students, we just said it was fair. We wanted to be prudent with the student money, but we wanted to be fair."
When Curry assumed the presidency, Northeastern was in a state of financial crisis, and suffered from a 38 percent drop in enrollments. During the early 1990s, Curry cut $60 million from the budget, eliminated 700 jobs and withheld raises in three different years.
Throughout Curry's tenure, Northeastern saw student financial aid increase from $8 million to $40 million per year, the average SAT score of entering freshmen rise about 70 points and the university's endowment grow from $78 million to $300 million. The university also spent $100 million on construction projects like the Marino Recreation and Egan centers.
"If anyone looked at President Curry's tenure, it was student-centered," Matthews said. "He revitalized the university toward the student.
"Student leadership found that he was much more accessible and that he really listened," he added. "He was not there just because he had to be. He listened and he made notes and he was responsive to their concerns."
The Chronicle's data comes from federal tax returns filed by 477 private colleges and universities.
[ Golden Gater - October 23, 1997 ]