By David Cunningham
Old Gold and Black Reporter
The university has the largest disparity between the presidential salary and average faculty salary of any private college or university, according to a report released by the American Association of University Professors Faculty Salary Study Committee.
President Thomas K. Hearn Jr.'s $448,000 salary in 1995-96 was 8.42 times the average salary of professors at the college and 7.44 times the average salary of university professors (which includes law school and MBA professors).
The next highest differential among private colleges was Vassar College with 4.78 and among private universities was Vanderbilt University at 7.43.
According to the report, "(the) intention was to identify a readily available benchmark for each institution (whose president's salaries are published) that would reflect the myriad of economic factors that enter into salaries at the local level, such as the local economy, the fiscal attitudes of the institution's governing board and the general financial health of the institution."
The committee acknowledges that unusual circumstances at a particular institution may call certain comparisons into question but believes that the general picture provided by these data is informative.
These figures are based on the 1995-96 salary figures which were obtained from a 990 Form. The 990 Form is a form that the university must file with the IRS because of its non-profit status. It lists the highest paid members of the university.
The 1996-97 form has not yet been filed because the university received an extension from the Internal Revenue Service.
The report also compares the average salary of professors with other U.S. News & World Reports top-ranked universities and colleges. The average salary of university professors, $59,900, ranks 43rd among universities, placing just behind Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Tulane University, University of Wisconsin and the University of California at Davis. The average salary of college professors, $53,900, places this university 36th among colleges, behind Scripps College, Franklin & Marshall College, Davidson College, University of Connecticut and Middlebury College. Hearn's salary was the third highest given to a university or college president in 1995-96.
The report was compiled by four members of AAUP, in a committee chaired by Mark Leary, a professor of psychology, and consisting of Jane Albrecht, an associate professor of romance languages, Ellen Kirkman, a professor of mathematics and computer sciences, and Charles Kennedy, an associate dean of the Babcock School of Management.
The study has traditionally been conducted biannually but will now be an annual report.
The report also examined gender equity in salaries among professors. "The average salary for women continues to be less than the average salary for men at each rank," the report said.
In 1997-98, the average salary of female assistant professors is 99 percent that of male professors, the ratio is 95 percent for associate professors and 94 percent for professors. Female instructors' average salary is 85 percent that of male instructors.
The average salaries of women assistant, associate and full professors have increased a higher percentage than men in the period from 1995-96 to 1997-98, the study found.
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