This year, ASU President Michael Crow will make about $720,500, including a housing allowance, pension and other benefits, according to the Arizona Board of Regents.
Meanwhile, tuition is on the rise, fees are getting tacked on, faculty associates are losing their jobs and class sizes are rising.
This is the part where most ASU students get mad and we follow suit — calling for Crow to be canned and the University’s newly found $720,500 of wealth to be redistributed to the needy students.
But that’s not what we’re going to do.
Sure, we’re going to lament; yes, the tuition hike and the additional fees will make it even harder to afford a University that prides itself on access, the faculty associates’ forced exit will lessen the diversity — and therefore, quality — of our education, and the increased class sizes will make the entire ASU experience all that more impersonal.
But we’re not going to raise our spite-filled fists of rage toward the administrative offices of the Fulton Center on the Tempe campus; the widespread blame of and general anger over Crow’s paycheck needs to stop.
Whenever something goes amiss in the University, financially or otherwise, local water coolers, coffee houses and message boards are crowded with words and phrases disparaging the president and calling for him and his earnings to be cut loose. You know, as if that would solve everything.
Don’t get us wrong; we don’t like the concept that our executive leader receives a lucrative contract as the blue-collar workers below him struggle to make ends meet. But even though we know any good leader must be a whipping boy and a lightning rod for blame, we don’t see why Crow’s salary is always the first domino to fall in any angry furor.
After all, it is the market — not Crow, not ABOR, not the governor — that determines the president’s salary. If every other president of a higher education institute makes six figures (and they do), you’re not going to be able to find one for less.
Well, you could, but we assure you that they would be unqualified beyond belief (unless you think being a department chair over at University of Phoenix merit a seat at the top of the ASU food chain) and that things would be far worse than you could ever imagine.
Between the national search team that would be put into place and the new president, replacing Crow with anyone else would cost a fortune — not to mention the general disarray that would accompany a power shift.
Detractors then must concede that we have the hard working and (whether you like him or not) undeniably smart Crow at a great value.
The Chronicle of Higher Education released a survey that said public university presidents’ salaries increased nationwide last year at an average of about 7.6 percent. In the report, it mentions that Ohio State University, one of the only comparable schools to ASU in terms of expansive enrollment and academic endeavors, pays out a $1.3 million package to its president, Gordon Gee, making him the highest paid of any public-school president.
By the way, OSU has 61,568 students across its five campuses compared to the 67,082 spread across ASU’s four campuses.
With that said, it is important that when you gripe about ASU’s monetary situation, looking at the top isn’t wise. The hypothetical next president we could bring aboard would only make things worse. So feel free to put Crow’s money where your mouth is.
