Student trustees hope UI admins say "No" to more pay

November 05, 2008
By Pete Nickeas
Public Affairs Reporter

Student trustees from each UI campus asked university administration to take a voluntary pay freeze for the next two years, which would apply to
any administrator making more than $150,000.

“This request is out of no animosity towards any administrator or their
staff – it is just the unfortunate realization that large expenditures mean large bills for students,” the trustees wrote.

The letter was published in UIS’ Journal on Oct. 29, Urbana-Champaign’s Daily Illini on Oct. 27, and Chicago’s Chicago Flame on Nov. 3.

Student Trustee James A. Winters, from Chicago, said the student trustees are looking for a “unified symbolic gesture. ” He wasn’t sure if any administrators would forgo raises or how much money the university would save.

“[Administrators] would be in the best place to carry [us] through the financial crisis,” Winters said. “They’re not only leaders but they're well equipped to set the standard and to make the sacrifice that we
have solidarity in the university.”

Craig McFarland, UIS’ student trustee, echoed Winters, saying he hoped
“top level administrators” would consider the proposal.

“I really do hope this will at least get the thought process going to say we cannot just continue to raise tuition to students,” McFarland said. “Something else needs to be done.”

In addition to the proposal, student trustees said they would like full
board recognition for anyone voluntarily accepting a salary freeze.

“It shows that they're willing to take on some of the burden of the
financial situation we're in as well,” McFarland said.

The reason the proposed freezes would be voluntary, according McFarland,
was because a firm policy proposal could be considered hostile.

“It would look like we're trying to blame them for the financial problems
we're having,” McFarland said. “And that's not the case.”

Tom Hardy, executive director for university relations, said the proposal
would unfairly burden administration.

“To single out a part or segment of employees doesn’t seem to follow in
lines of shared sacrifice and making sure no single group bears the
brunt of the sacrifice,” Hardy said.

Because the student trustees haven’t consulted with the rest of the board
or senior administrators, Hardy said, he couldn’t say whether
pay-freezes would be apart of any contingency plan dealing with the
university’s financial difficulties.

A pay-freeze would not be without precedent, according to Hardy. In the
early 2000s, faculty salaries were froze for one year and
administration salaries were frozen for two.

According to university spokesperson Michelle Green, there are four UIS
administrators whose salaries are more than $150,000: Chancellor
Richard D. Ringeisen, $249,500; Dean Ronald McNeil, $179,225; Provost
Harry Berman, $176,045 and Dean Margot I. Duley, $155,202.

Ringeisen, additionally, receives a $24,000 housing stipend and a $15,000
stipend for his fundraising activities on behalf of the university.

"I believe what we're looking for is just increases that, if an
administrator was to receive a raise, he or she would not accept it,”
Winters said, “in whatever form it manifests itself in.”