US: University presidents to give back some pay

In the week after The Chronicle of Higher Education published its annual survey of university presidents' pay - a week in which the nation's economic troubles worsened - several of the highest-paid presidents said that they would give back part of their pay or forgo their raises, writes Tamar Lewin in the New York Times.

The chancellor of Washington University in St Louis, Mark S Wrighton, announced last week that he would take a 5% cut from his base salary on 1 January and another 5% reduction on 1 July 2009. Wrighton earns a total package of about $780,000. Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, and her husband made a $100,000 gift to the university to support undergraduate research. Gutmann was one of eight private university presidents earning more than $1 million in 2006, according to the Chronicle.

In Washington state, where there is talk of deep cuts in financing of higher education, the two highest-paid university presidents - Mark Emmert of the University of Washington and Elson S Floyd of Washington State University - also announced givebacks last week.
Full report on the New York Times site