Among university executives, Ohio University President Roderick McDavis’ ranks in the top third in total pay, according to a new study.
The study, published by
The Chronicle of Higher Education, ranked McDavis 58th for total compensation among 255 public college and university presidents for fiscal year 2013. McDavis made $596,024, meaning he earned more than 72 percent of the presidents the Chronicle surveyed.
The president’s nearly $600,000 salary was composed of a base pay of $415,000, retirement pay of more than $80,000, a bonus of nearly $60,000 and other factors.
The highest paid president on the list — with a total compensation of $6,057,615 — was E. Gordon Gee of Ohio State University. Gee ended his tenure at OSU last year, now employed as president of West Virginia University.
The ranking uses the most recent data widely available which, in this case, was 2012-13 school year data.
McDavis, who has served as president of the university since 2004, has seen a large increase in his salary in the past few years.
In the 2012 fiscal year, McDavis’ compensation totaled $467,109. That figure increased by 27.6 percent between fiscal year 2012 and 2013 to the $596,024 figure. That's up from $380,000 in fiscal year 2010, when McDavis ranked 89th in total presidential pay.
OU officials attribute that increase to the implementation of a new contract for McDavis, said Director of External Communications Stephanie Filson.
This past school year, McDavis’ salary was raised twice — to $431,150 — and he was given a bonus of $62,250, bringing his total compensation for fiscal year 2014, before retirement pay and other factors are accounted for, to at least $493,400.
OU officials did not not have an estimate of McDavis’ total compensation for the 2014 fiscal year, which ends June 30, on Tuesday.
“Ohio University continues to make strong contributions to southeast Ohio and well beyond the borders of the state, thanks to the efforts, leadership, strategy, and vision of our president and his team,” Peter Mather, secretary to OU’s Board of Trustees, said in an email.
While McDavis ranks in the 72nd percentile for total compensation, OU places in the 45th percentile for institutional expenses with a total of $536 million for the 2013 fiscal year, according to the Chronicle.
The study states that McDavis total pay accounted for 0.13 percent of OU’s total expenditures during the 2013 fiscal year — equivalent to about 68 students "paying full sticker price at Ohio University," the Chronicle calculated.
“We look forward to providing more details about the impact of President McDavis’ leadership at our upcoming board meeting in June,” Mather said.
Megan Marzec, the recently elected president of OU Student Senate, who campaigned against higher administrative salaries, had this to say in response to the Chronicle study: “It is clear that President McDavis is overpaid. However, there is a more systemic issue of wealth distribution within universities in general. We need to fight it both on the direct institutional level and a larger political level.”
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