There is more evidence of a direct negative impact on a Black student body confronting a higher bar in pursuit of their education due to increased financial burden placed upon them than can be proven by the standard fare of the attacks on "corporate CEO pay" that we readily hear about from the "permanent opposition".
Clark-Atlanta University had suffered a serious financial crisis that hinted of the travail suffered by its sister college Morris Brown College. Years of capital plant expansion left it financially anemic. There were student protests when the university announced that certain academic programs would be cut as they needed to save money to protect the viability of the institution.
This story shows that there exists a clique on various "executive compensation panels". In their attempt to accept "only the best" for their institutions they occasionally forget to retain consciousness about the interests of the consumers - in this case the students.
This problem with compensation panels was seen in various corporations over the past 5 years. It is clear to me that certain mega-church governing boards have a similar problem with cliquishness. I am supportive of compensation packages that reward accomplishment as they have specific goals itemized that are challenging and require material reform (for the better) as a pretext.
AJC Article
The revelation that Clark Atlanta University paid its former president more than $1 million the year he retired shocked and angered faculty and many alumni, but the chairwoman of the university's board of trustees says it was a good deal for the financially struggling school.
In his final year at Clark Atlanta, 2008, Walter Broadnax was among the 30 highest-paid private-college presidents in America, according to the annual salary study by the Chronicle of Higher Education, which was released last week. His total payout that year came to $1,158,537.
"The contractual payout amount was not out of line with the job we were asking Dr. Broadnax to do," board chairwoman Juanita Baranco said. "He came in and literally transformed the university, so the contract was a sound business judgment when we entered into it in 2002.. I do want to emphasize that this was a unique situation."
But an expert on compensation for college presidents said the deal appears to have been extraordinarily generous, and Clark Atlanta faculty say they've been unable find presidents at comparable schools who made comparable money.
Baranco said Broadnax was hired to turn around the college's finances -- expenses had outstripped revenue for a couple of years. She said the compensation package was standard in 2002 for college presidents at comparable institutions.
Raymond D. Cotton, a Washington attorney who has represented more than 200 colleges and universities and is an expert on compensation issues in higher education, said turnaround situations often merit higher pay. But he said Broadnax's package still appeared extraordinarily generous -- especially at a school with financial problems -- and out of line with comparable schools.
He also said Broadnax's annual pay and deferred compensation, which usually totaled more than $400,000 a year, appeared to be at the top if not above the pay range at comparable institutions.
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