PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Public university presidents in Oregon are bringing in smaller paychecks in attempts to help soften budget woes at their schools.
The Oregonian reports the moves to freeze salaries at July 2008 levels and take voluntary salary reductions during part of 2009 bucks a national trend of pay raising for college executives.
Paul Kelly, president of the Oregon Board of Higher Education, says the state’s been fortunate that the salary has not been a “handicap in hiring the good people we’ve hired in the last couple of years.”
Presidential salaries in the Oregon University System range from $414,397 for Richard Lariviere, president of the University of Oregon to $176,929 for Mary Cullinan, president of Southern Oregon University. Christopher Maples, president of the Oregon Institute of Technology, volunteered to take a 9.2 percent pay cut, reducing his salary to $181,690.
