Executive Compensation at UW Madison

Last week UW Madison employees got the details on their pending benefits cuts, which will take a substantial hack at their earnings during the coming years.

At the same time, we also got word that at least two folks at UW Madison wouldn't be feeling the pain--quite the contrary actually. Barry Alvarez has a new deal amounting to $1 million in total compensation (a 20% raise), and Francois Ortalo-Magne was named dean of the biz school with a salary of $410,000. While former dean Mike Knetter's salary was completely paid for by the Albert O. Nicholas endowment, apparently some of the new dean's salary (how much? we aren't told) is covered by UW Madison central administration. This apparently amounts to a 109% increase in 43-year-old Ortalo-Magne's salary. Outgoing chancellor Biddy Martin approved both deals as she left UW Madison.

According to the posted agenda for the upcoming UW System Regents meeting, these two aren't alone...
"Move into closed session to consider personal histories related to the naming of a facility at UW-Madison, as permitted by s. 19.85(1)(f), Wis. Stats.; to consider a compensation adjustment for the UW-Madison athletic director, as permitted by s. 19.85(1)(c), Wis. Stats.; to consider a compensation adjustment for the UW-Madison men’s basketball head coach, as permitted by s. 19.85(1)(c), Wis. Stats.; to consider a compensation adjustment for the UW-Madison women’s hockey head coach, as permitted by s. 19.85(1)(c), Wis. Stats.; to consider salary approval for an interim chancellor for UW-Madison, as permitted by s. 19.85(1)(c), Wis. Stats; to confer with legal counsel regarding pending or potential litigation, as permitted by s. 19.85(1)(g), Wis. Stats.; and to consider annual personnel evaluations, as permitted by Wis. Stats. §19.85(1)(c)."

Raises for not one but three athletics folks, eh? Don't forget, Bret Bielema's salary was increased 47% and Paul Chryst's was jacked 33% back in February while most of us were freezing our butts off protesting at the Capital. And of course tuition is going up yet again-- passing the costs for these luxuries onto all students and their families (hey, do they get a vote?). You can claim "private donors funded this" but (a) it's not entirely true (some comes from Administration) and (b) if donors didn't have to pay for this stuff, don't you think they might CONSIDER funding our educational mission? In other words, a dollar is a dollar-- and a dollar spent here is a dollar that could've been spent there.

I guess the UW Madison administration isn't acquainted with the phrase "shared sacrifice."