( – promoted by odum)

Credit to Burlington Social Media Day King Shay Totten for being on top of the story regarding outgoing UVM President Fogel – http://bit.ly/qJxyzW A number of folks have questioned whether the events involving Mr. Fogel’s wife Rachel Kahn-Fogel are even newsworthy.  The answer to the question is that whatever went on with Ms. Kahn-Fogel just doesn’t matter.  All that matters for the time being is that Mr. Fogel is evidently being given a package deal (for resigning a year early, for reasons that will never be truly clear to the public) that can best be described as a golden handshake, parachute and handcuffs all rolled into one.  

I have to agree with sometimes blogger, sometimes state senator, sometimes professor and always-great guy, Philip Baruth’s observation in  the Free Press the other day http://bit.ly/qApvyM

He soured on Fogel’s performance, though, when the economy tanked and the president authorized fat performance bonuses for top administrators while laying off people at the lower end of the pay scale. “In bad times, that really makes people indignant, and it should,” said Baruth, a Democratic state senator.

The next president should bring more equity to the pay structure and move away from the corporate-style leadership that Fogel displays, Baruth suggested. Fogel’s $300,000-plus salary, and the similar amount being paid to the newly hired dean of the UVM School of Business Administration, Sanjay Sharma, are understandably upsetting to people in this economy, he said.

Now United Academics, the union representing the UVM faculty is finally weighing in saying that the UVM Board should be “ashamed and embarrassed” over Fogel’s compensation package and that the union is “dismayed and profoundly disappointed” with the package. http://bit.ly/qTaY42 Those are some pretty poignant words in the mostly staid game of intra-university diplomacy.  A number of my Burlington constituents are UVM professors and for the most part they have not been shy about decrying the inequity of this deal.

The real question that folks here should be asking is how is it that the 9 (yes that’s right nine http://bit.ly/pAui07 ) members of the Vermont Legislature who sit on UVM’s Board of Trustees (composed of 25 members in total) aren’t raising questions about the renegotiated compensation package?  Can you imagine how this would be handled if we were talking about the Governor (who makes far, far less in salary and perks) instead of the UVM President?

And what about the argument that if we don’t move on and we don’t offer a “competitive” compensation package, we will never get a leader/fundraiser who has the ability to run the University?  Hogwash.  The same again could be said about leaders and fundraisers who wanted to run for Governor and there was no dearth of qualified candidates, who also happened to know how to raise money.  Can you imagine if the UVM Board, just once stepped up to the plate and said hey, we are going to try to do something different here, we are going to pay the incoming UVM President the EXACT compensation package that we currently pay the Governor (this salary in itself when compared to other states is quite generous (10th)  http://bit.ly/qJGuun)  

Look, I’m not saying that people at the top levels of business, non-profits and government should not be compensated generously . . . they should.  They take more risks by accepting such positions and with few exceptions, work far longer hours then those in positions of less responsibility.  But there are limits and paying someone $195K to teach English, after having a year and a half highly paid vacation with full benefits, is grossly unfair to the rest of the English faculty.  Even more importantly, it is a smack in the face of every state and municipal employee in the State of Vermont, none of whom, from the Governor on down make anywhere close to that amount and likely have nowhere near the work schedule flexibility that a tenured, full professor enjoys.  

The Jedi Council has spoken.  What has been done has been done for the good of the Empire . . . or if you prefer a different epic “for the greater good”.  Move along now, move along . . .