CUNY boss’ $weet goodbye
April 21, 2013
CUNY is planning a golden parachute for Chancellor Matthew Goldstein.
Goldstein, 71, who announced last week he will retire in June, will be offered an undetermined salary for activities such as teaching a graduate math class, fund-raising or helping with special projects, said Benno Schmidt, chairman of the CUNY Board of Trustees.
“We’ll craft a special package for Matt,” Schmidt told The Post. “We definitely want him to stick around and be active. He’s in very good health and in a position to make a good contribution.”
Schmidt said the salary — the first for a retired CUNY chancellor — has not yet been decided.
“I expect to discuss it with Matt probably in the next few weeks and take some set of recommendations to the board, probably in our May or June meeting,” he said.
In a move seemingly tailored to Goldstein, the CUNY trustees in November 2011 added the title “chancellor emeritus” to its executive compensation plan, allowing the board to appoint a departing chancellor to a five-year stint.
Goldstein, a former math professor and president of Baruch College, currently gets $490,000 a year in salary, plus a $90,000 housing allowance.
Schmidt said the post-retirement salary would be less, but the board is “going to want to be on the generous side.”
“I think he’s been underpaid as chancellor, The board has wanted to give him raises. He has repeatedly refused raises.”
Goldstein’s salary ranked No. 68 among public college presidents nationwide, according to a 2011 Chronicle of Higher Education survey.
But Goldstein has other income. While chancellor, he has served since 2003 as a funds trustee at JPMorgan Chase & Co., which paid him $325,000 in 2011. Last December, the board overseeing mutual funds elected Goldstein its new chairman, a post that paid his predecessor $500,000 in 2011.
He is also entitled to a New York state pension.
Schmidt acknowledged that Goldstein’s post-retirement pay is likely to stir controversy among students and faculty members amid tuition hikes and budget cuts, but said private funds may subsidize the salary.
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Let's see how the chancellor gets paid for adjuncting a math class, compared to our other 10,000+ adjuncts.
ReplyDeleteThanks to Corey Robin for reposting with commentary:
ReplyDeletehttp://coreyrobin.com/2013/04/21/god-bless-benno-schmidt/?utm_source=feedly
One of the lessons when I teach stratification is how members of the elite are socialized into believing that they deserve extraordinary privilege. So the chair of the CUNY Board can say without irony that the Chancellor is underpaid and needs to be taken care of. Benno acknowledges that this might be "controversial" but what is left unsaid is he thinks it is because faculty, staff, and students just don't see how deserving Goldstein is. That kind of class solidarity doesn't happen by accident; you need a lot of people telling you how great you are, over and over, so that you start to believe it yourself.
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