Simon's pay in middle of Big Ten compensation
By Justin Harris (Last updated: 11/17/08 9:33pm)Even after a raise of $124,750, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon remains in the lower half of Big Ten university president salaries, according to a survey released Monday by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Simon’s 2007-08 salary of $572,000 represents the seventh-highest salary among the 11 Big Ten institutions. The president’s salary is decided upon by MSU’s eight-member Board of Trustees.
“The salaries for the president were low for a long time,” Trustee chairman Joel Ferguson said. “(The raise was) to catch up. If you’re way behind somebody, you got to run faster.”
Simon’s pay raise reflects a nationwide trend of increasing college presidential salaries. In 2007-08, public university compensation increased 7.6 percent to an average salary of $427,400.
Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee’s salary of $1,346,225 is the highest of the public universities in the Big Ten. Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman is second, earning $760,196.
Ferguson said the board agreed Simon deserved a higher salary and performed as well as other Big Ten leaders.
“We’re as good as those, and our people are just as good, if not better, so why should they be paid less?” he said.
MSU spokesman Terry Denbow said Simon was unavailable for comment Monday.
Although Simon’s salary remains in the lower half of the conference, some students were unsure why she received a raise when tuition and fees increased this fall and will increase on student bills again in the summer.
“I can understand (the raise), I guess if she’s in the middle,” no-preference sophomore Erik Gudding said. “It makes a little bit of sense, but at the same time, taking it out of students pockets is kind of wrong too.”
However, MSU Trustee Donald Nugent said tuition increases and presidential raises aren’t comparable.
“It’s not the same,” he said. “If you took the actual dollars, that’s really not a good comparison at all. If you’re going to have quality people, you need to be competitive in the pay.”
Although some students might see a presidential raise as unfair, global and area studies senior Maranda Clark said she understands why Simon’s salary increased.
“To get her to stay, unfortunately, that’s the way you get people to do what you want,” Clark said. “You give them more money.”
Originally Published: 11/17/08 9:25pm
Uhh...
11/17/08 11:43pmRe: the graphic in the top right of this page with the listing of Big Ten president salaries….
Iowa State is not a member of the Big Ten.
nnn
11/17/08 11:53pmLet’s keep giving our tuition dollars to our presidents, as if they are not paid well enough.
typical
11/17/08 11:57pmSally Mason is the president of the University of Iowa though…just another typical State News mistake
LansingTrucker
11/18/08 2:17amLet’s keep giving our tuition dollars to our president, Simon is no experience at the wheel just the liberal side. She is just showing the US what it can look for out of Obama another no experience at the wheel. Freguson is out to take more money from the Students her at State and the State of Michigan Taxpayers….
tgl
11/18/08 7:33amLansing Trucker,
Do you post while driving? It sure reads as if you are.
fay
11/18/08 9:22amnnn & trucker:
um, if you divided it among the students, we each pay $13 for the President’s paycheck. That’s only up $3 from last year. I pay $3 for the radio station too, I think I can handle it.
student
11/18/08 11:56amSTOP COMPLAINING.
You pay what you pay to maintain and improve the standards of MSU. If you study hard and you graduate in 4 years it will not be a burden in your pocket. Scholarships or other assistance will come. I will graduate in 4 years and I want MSU to improve. So, if you don’t know giving money is the way you improve something, like a University.
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Townsend
11/18/08 12:37pm^Very well said, student.
Alum
11/18/08 3:23pmI’m sure that Dr. Simon is worthy of the pay increase, but haven’t the Board of Trustees heard about the state of the economy. It is going to be hard for some people to understand when the economy in Michigan is so bad and so many people are struggling to get by. Good things are happening at MSU, but the timing of this raise is bad.
Different Alum
11/18/08 4:26pmI think the raise was actually approved a while back, but the study comparing the whole Big Ten just came out.
That could have been made more clear in the article
MartyMo
11/18/08 6:12pmI pointed out earlier that Iowa State is not a Big ten school, and SN deleted my message.
Terry
11/18/08 8:13pmWhat is the meaning of this stupid “president salary rank”? It means we have good academic programs? Or it means we have good professors? Or it means we have good athelatic programs? Can this rank attract more good students? Can this rank attract more five star players? Or can this rank attract a Nobel price winner working for MSU? If it can, I want Dr. Simon to have the No.1 salary in the country and then we are the best university. Ranking the 7th is not enough? Look at our rank in other fields. Do not tell me footbal(they are good, though), but I do not pay tuition to watch football. I have paid more than a super bowl ticket. I finally know where those 9%,1.2% tuition rising go.
student
11/18/08 9:32pmTerry, is nice that you try to make a comeback.
But it didn’t work…
This articles examines if Pres. Simon deserves this salary. This article does not examine how much academic talent you can attract by the salary the president of the university has.
The academic talent you attract depends on the respect the students have for the professors, the atmosphere there is on campus regarding academics, the ability to do research, the money available to do research, the salary professors have, the facilities in which they would work, the grants they could earn at that institutions, and the prominence of their academic field in that university, among others…
So, Pres.
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Alumni
11/19/08 8:49amWell said again, Student. And the raise happened quite some time ago, not recently. Tuition hikes follow a lack of state funding, not an increase in a president’s salary. Dr. Simon is awesome, she’s much more qualified than that ass McPherson and I don’t think she will follow in his footsteps by selling our graduate schools to Grand Rapids.
Vince Baker
11/19/08 10:51amIowa State is not in the Big Ten, nice work Justin.
Lauren
11/19/08 12:22pmWHAT? We can throw $500K at our president but we have to raise tuition between semesters? This is absolutely disgusting, and I can’t believe our university is concerned with poor Ms. Simon’s salary being in the lower half of other Big 10 presidents’.
annoyed
11/19/08 3:22pmThe presidents of these universities make more than the President of the United States! It’s time for taxpayers to wake up and put an end to this nonsense.
The argument for Simon’s pay is that it “attracts talent.” I recall her being hired from within MSU. She would have given anything for that job. This “attracting talent” argument is enough to make me ill.
KC
11/19/08 3:47pmWhile I understand that my tuition may not be affected in a big way because of this pay increase it still pisses me off. It is the principle of the matter. I have seen several profs and faculty members get pay raises at this tuition at the same time my tuition is going up. Let’s be honest most of the profs that teach here DO NOT deserve a pay increase (in fact most of the ones that I have had should not continue to teach) and I see no reason that Pres.
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student
11/19/08 5:11pmHas Pres. Simon done anything remarkable for the University???
OF COURSE!
That argument demonstrate the complete ignorance of some students for what is going on at MSU.
She has done remarkable things since she became the President of MSU. Also, before being the President, she was the Provost.
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AYS
11/19/08 5:34pmThe SN might have also mentioned the tens of thousands of dollars (probably more) that the Simons have donated back to the university over the years. A big part of that raise will probably come back to MSU…