In an unusual move, the University of California Board of
Regents released Friday executive salary reports that the board
approved between its regularly scheduled meetings in an effort to
improve fiscal transparency and calm criticism over past
compensation practices.
The report ““ which revealed the benefits, compensation and
base salaries of four recently appointed UC administrators ““
was released after several months of criticism regarding public
accountability in matters of compensation and compensation
disclosure within the UC.
The UC authorized the compensation package report to be released
immediately after negotiation with the administrative members
rather than waiting for the next meeting.
Per university policy, actions taken between board meetings must
be approved by some combination of the board chairman, the UC
president and several other board officers, but does not require
authorization by the full board or a full committee.
UC spokesman Paul Schwartz said the university wanted to
publicize its administrators’ salaries to increase
transparency to the public and show the UC is competitive in
comparison to other universities.
“We’re taking steps to improve transparency and to
give open disclosure as to the compensation of our senior
management, and this is a step in that direction,” Schwartz
said
He added that emergency authorization of salaries is sometimes
necessary for the UC to maintain its competitiveness in attracting
top faculty and administrators.
“There’s times where we do need to act between
regents meetings to give firm offers to candidates for these
positions since we’re competing with other
institutions,” Schwartz said.
The four administrators mentioned in the report are Charles
Bertolami, dean of the UC San Francisco School of Dentistry; Nathan
Brostrom, vice chancellor for administration at UC Berkeley;
Alphonso Diaz, vice chancellor for administration at UC Riverside;
and Donna Murphy, vice chancellor for university relations at UC
Santa Cruz.
The annual base salaries for the administrators in the report
range from $190,000 to $300,000. Benefits for certain
administrators include an automobile allowance of $743 per month
and 13 round-trip airline tickets for work-related travel.
UC President Robert Dynes told the state Senate Education
Committee in February that UC salaries lag behind the market, and
these benefits are necessary to attract qualified administrators
for the UC system, an argument UC officials have put forward in
defense of their compensation decisions since the criticism first
surfaced.
In the two state senate hearings in February, which were
prompted by the earlier criticism, Dynes vowed to begin additional
transparency reform through an independent external audit of its
practices and the creation of a committee to oversee compensation
matters.
This report is one of the steps the UC is taking to improving
its image regarding transparency, since public accountability is
one of the driving forces for the actions and the public salary
report, Student Regent Adam Rosenthal said.
“The UC Office of the President is doing a thorough review
of compensation policy for executive compensation and (is)
releasing reports so our policies are more transparent (and) we
gain the public’s trust,” Rosenthal said.