Washington — Sen. Charles E. Grassley has issued a written statement urging college trustees to reconsider whether their presidents should serve on corporate boards.

“University boards should look at what students gain or lose from having the university president sit on corporate boards, such as Bear Stearns,” said Mr. Grassley, an Iowa Republican and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. “Maybe there are fund-raising gains, but those gains might be undercut by time away from the institution or conflicts of interest.”

The Chronicle released today an examination of the corporate-board service of the chief executives of 40 top research universities. Of that group, 19 sit on at least one board. Three presidents serve as directors of four companies. Corporate filings reveal that each board spot pays an annual amount of six figures in fees and stock awards.

The analysis was published as part of The Chronicle’s annual report on Executive Compensation in higher education.

In his statement, Mr. Grassley, who has spearheaded several financial investigations of nonprofit institutions, drew parallels to problems involving corporate-board service that he uncovered at the Smithsonian Institution.

“The two former top executives collected millions of dollars in compensation and stock while sitting on the board of an insurer that held half of the Smithsonian’s insurance policies,” Mr. Grassley said, adding that after those executives resigned, “the Smithsonian Board of Regents prohibited senior executives from serving on corporate boards. It may be that colleges could learn from the Smithsonian’s experience.” —Paul Fain