The UNC Board of Governors unanimously approved 44 salary increase requests, including that of state First Lady Mary Easley, Friday, and Chair Hannah Gage said the University has made up for its misinterpretation of BOG salary guidelines.
Thirty three of the proposals came from the time between 2002 and 2008 when the University misinterpreted the UNC-system’s rule that any salary increase more than 15 percent and $10,000 must go to the BOG for approval.
“N.C. State also recognized they made a mistake and they’ve been very forthcoming with us,” Gage said. “I don’t think it will happen again.”
Easley, an executive-in-residence, will have a salary that comprises $114,750 in state funds and $55,250 in non-state funds, which Easley’s personnel information states could include “grants, receipts, trust funds [and] endowments.”
According to Gage, the board considered Easley’s proposal the same way it would consider any increase request.
“We examined the data, we examined the responsibilities of the job and we looked at the qualifications of the individual in addition to examining the comparable data and concluded that the package and the salary was appropriate,” she said.
The University changed its original proposal for Easley, which Gage said had an impact on the board’s decision.
“The job had been changed from a nine to a 12-month job, and the amount of money the taxpayers were paying had been changed from $170,000 to $114,750,” she said.
The 12-month equivalency of Easley’s original $90,300 salary is $120,400, which allowed her personnell information to say the increase to $170,000 was a 41.2 percent increase, not the original 88.3 percent.
It is common for research institutions to have faculty members whose salaries are at least partially funded by non-state funds, Gage said.
Greg Doucette, UNC Association of Student Governments president and Student Senate President, said based on Easley’s job function, which includes directing the Millennium Seminars, heading a new Center for Public Safety Leadership, expanding law academic programming and co-teaching a class twice a year, “she’s a perfect choice for the position.”
Doucette, a senior in computer science, said having a portion of a salary come from non-state funds can serve as an incentive to do a job well.
“If she doesn’t raise the money, she doesn’t get it,” he said.
Jeff Butler, a junior in political science, said he was still unsure about the board’s decision.
“It just seems odd that the first lady of North Carolina is getting paid that much money,” he said.
The UNC system released personnel information regarding Easley’s responsibilities and the University’s justification for its hiring.
“It is kind of a unique situation in that Mary Easley herself had to authorize the release of this document,” Chancellor James Oblinger said.
Events before Friday’s decision
Controversy erupted in July over Provost Larry Nielsen’s decision to give Easley an 88 percent raise, increasing her salary from $90,300 to $170,000.
A Board of Governors’ policy states that if a salary increase is at least 15 percent and $10,000 greater than the original salary, the University must send it to the board for approval.
Oblinger has said the University misinterpreted the policy and considered each fixed-term contract to be a new one.
Oblinger selected a group of 16 faculty members to take part in a Contract Review Task Force in July, and the group submitted its findings to him Aug. 29 after comparing the University’s policies with the UNC-system’s.
Out of 1,067 contracts with salary increases not meeting the system’s rule between 2002 and June 2008, the University had to submit 33 for the board’s review.
The University also submitted 11 salary increases from the current fiscal year, and the board approved them all, Chancellor James Oblinger said.
