How to Stop the Arms Race in Presidential Pay

Jon Krause for The Chronicle

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By Constantine Curris

Recent reports on the compensation of college and university presidents have all had a similar impact: growing criticism from a public angry over Wall Street bonuses and skeptical of higher education's fiscal stewardship. In truth, many people in higher education—including a large number of presidents—share similar sentiments, believing some of the highly publicized compensation packages to be excessive, if not obscene.

Perhaps the time has come to consider a different