Ball State U. Will Pay Its President an Extra $220K

The president of Ball State University, Jo Ann Gora, will forgo an extended leave of absence that was promised to her in favor of an additional $220,000 in pay, The Star Press reports.

As the newspaper tells it:

When she was hired in 2004, Gora’s employment contract provided her a six-month leave of absence if she was still serving as president five years later, which is August of this year.

In the fall of 2007, however, the university’s board of trustees amended the contract to give Gora the option of receiving additional compensation in lieu of taking six months of paid leave of absence.

Under the amended contract, Gora, whose 2008 salary was $356,400, is entitled to “additional compensation equal to 50 percent of your then current annual base salary,” plus “an amount equal to 25 percent of such additional compensation.”

The university was unable to confirm to The Star Press on Thursday exactly how much total additional pay Gora will receive, but the amount appears to be $222,700 based on her 2008 salary. Half of that salary is $178,200, and 25 percent of that $44,500.

Tom Taylor, vice president for enrollment, marketing, and communications, told the newspaper that Gora felt that taking an extended leave in the middle of the university’s largest capital campaign ever “would not be in the best interests of the university,” as the “current economic conditions make its successful completion both challenging and crucial,” he said.