The LSU Board of Supervisors held committee meetings Thursday amidst continued controversy about Chancellor Mark Emmert’s pay package.
The Baton Rouge Advocate reported Wednesday that board members Victor Bussie and Perry Segura said they were unaware Emmert’s $500,000 bonus included yearly interest-free loans from the LSU Foundation of $100,000 each.
Minutes from the July 2002 board meeting approved the retention package, contingent upon Emmert’s remaining at the University until 2007. But, the details of the bonus were not discussed in the resolution itself. Only Segura voted against the initial proposal to increase Emmert’s salary.
The Advocate reported Emmert used the loan as a down payment on a beach house in Pensacola, Fla. Regardless of the payments, Emmert will be expected to pay back his bonus if he leaves the University in the next five years.
Emmert said the transaction was based on a clear financial commitment from the board.
“The fact that we’ve bought real estate shows our commitment to LSU,” Emmert said. “I don’t see how anyone could view it as a back room deal.”
Emmert said The Advocate’s report clearly was based on the paper’s political agenda.
“They say they do not care about my salary, that I’m doing a good job, and yet it has made the front-page news four times,” Emmert said.
In other business, the board’s budget and finance committee considered a resolution revising its administrative salary policy, as directed by an earlier resolution by the Board of Regents.
The new policy would require administrative and professional salaries to, as a group, be comparable to established averages reported by the College and University Personnel Administration. Both public and private sources of funding will be considered when calculating the average.
“This provides for a broader view of compensation,” said System Executive Vice President William Silvia. “It does not limit what any individual can receive.”
The resolution passed committee unanimously.
The committee also voted to bring resolutions increasing tuition at the School of Veterinary Medicine by $3,000 per year, subject to approval by the Louisiana legislature. Another resolution passed in committee will phase in tuition exemptions for full-time graduate assistants.
These committee resolutions will go forward for a vote Friday morning.
Salary debate continues
February 21, 2003