Presidential Salaries

Presidents of private colleges and universities commanded handsome salaries in the 1997-98 academic year. Yet only one of them exceeded the $750,000 paid to former USC football Coach John Robinson, who was fired at the end of 1997. Robinson’s package consisted of $250,000 in salary and $500,000 to buy out the remainder of his multiyear contract. The new football coach at USC, Paul Hackett, was paid $433,298 for 1997-98 that was $64,000 more than USC President Steven B. Sample. With Robinson’s departure, the most highly paid person at a California private university became Dr. Edward Stinson, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Stanford whose salary was listed at $1,022,260. According to a survey of federal tax returns by the Chronicle of Higher Education, here are some of the top salaries.

Highest-paid presidents of private universities, 1997-98

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Howard J. Burnett*(1) Washington & Jefferson $1,052,673 Judith S. Rodin Pennsylvania $529,677 L. Jay Oliva New York U. $528,000 John MacGuire*(1) Claremont Graduate U. $478,820 Joe B. Wyatt Vanderbilt $472,000 George Rupp Columbia $452,500 William R. Brody Johns Hopkins $446,419 James M. Shuart Hofstra $407,828 Stephen J. Trachtenberg George Washington $404,014 Eamon M. Kelly* Tulane $383,908 Gerhard Casper Stanford $379,622 Hugo Sonnenschein Chicago $378,574 Harold T. Shapiro Princeton $376,120 Richard C. Levin Yale $372,500 Malcolm Gillis Rice $372,152 Michael F. Adams* Centre College $370,237 Mark S. Wrighton Washington (Mo.) $369,704 William Tucker Texas Christian $369,456 Steven B. Sample USC $369,167

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Presidents’ pay at some Southern California private institutions, 1997-98

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David Baltimore Caltech $350,004 Jerry C. Lee National University $275,000 Peter Stanley Pomona College $195,290 James L. Ash* Whittier College $188,700 John B. Slaughter* Occidental College $188,583 Nancy Y. Bekavac Scripps College $186,500 Jack L. Stark* Claremont McKenna College $175,000 Marilyn Chapin Massey Pitzer College $174,693 James L. Doti Chapman University $170,317 James R. Appleton University of Redlands $180,615 Rabbi Robert Wexler University of Judaism $156,060 Clyde Cook Biola University $157,600 Luther Luedtke California Lutheran U. $141,924 B. Lyn Behrens Loma Linda University $117,391 Sister Karen Kennelly Mt. St. Mary’s College $82,769 Thomas E. Dillon Thomas Aquinas College $67,488

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* No longer with the institution.

1. Salary includes deferred compensation, retirement pay or other incentives.

Source: Chronicle of Higher Education