UNIVERSITY administrators should not get rich by forcing students into debt. While the University drops in the rankings and faculty members eye higher-paying jobs at Ivy League schools, too many administrators take home princely sums in salaries and benefits, all the while blaming Richmond for their institution's lack of performance.
During the Casteen administration, the University's student population has grown by 326 students. During this same period, the University has hired an additional 311 administrators. That is almost one for every new student. These are people who never teach or have any contact with students. But while faculty are told that Charlottesville's low cost of living will make up for their below-market salaries, Madison Hall administrators drive new BMWs. Overall Casteen and his vice presidents took home $2.6 million in salaries last year.
The University's preference for administrators as opposed to teachers translates into a salary scale out of proportion with the effect individuals have on students' lives. Take for example Laurie Kelsch, President Casteen's chief of staff. Kelsch made $110,000 last year. Not only is this more than the salary for a chief of staff of a United States senator, but it is also well more than the University paid Larry J. Sabato, professor of government and foreign affairs, Civil War expert Gary W. Gallagher, History Department Chairman Michael Holt or popular Physics Prof. Louis Bloomfield. While Kelsch might make sure Casteen's staff runs well, collectively these professors touch the lives of a couple thousand students each year.
It seems that job performance has nothing to do with the financial rewards available to University administrators. The University Treasurer's office, now known as UVIMCO, is in charge of managing and investing the University's endowment. The endowment has vastly underperformed the market in the last few years, prompting Board of Visitors member Terence P. Ross to say, "If I'd had these results in my personal portfolio over the last few years, I would have fired my manager" ("Board considers firing investment managers," The Cavalier Daily, Feb. 3). Yet despite this pathetic performance, administrators at UVIMCO remain some of the highest paid around Grounds. The total salary of the office, not including secretaries and support staff, is close to $700,000. Alice Handy, the University treasurer and the person ultimately in charge of the endowment, is the fifth highest-paid administrator at the University. Her $235,000 salary is almost twice as much as history professors Ed Ayers and Julian Bond made last year.
The University is at a crossroads. The Capital Campaign is winding down, and despite the best efforts of the University treasurer, the endowment has grown to healthy proportions. The resources are there to improve areas of this institution that long have suffered under budget constraints and lack of attention. But just as nature abhors a vacuum, senior administrators can't help themselves when it comes to special assistants and executive secretaries. Casteen has six special assistants whose salaries total almost $600,000. Gordon Burris, whose privilege it is to carry tracking lists to the Office of Admissions, makes $128,000, more than any history professor. If the University is to make the best use of its newly raised funds, Casteen and his vice presidents must resist the urge to hire "assistants," "associates" and "deputies," and pour the money into higher faculty salaries and new programs.
University administrators seem to have a double standard when it comes to budget priorities. There always is enough money to hire one more executive assistant, but not enough to make sure University staff makes the living wage. This is empire building at its finest, caused mainly by a total lack of oversight. While legislators in Richmond can talk about the University's total allocation, they have very little power to decide whether a vice president's assistant should be paid more than a popular tenured professor. The Board of Visitors should be more vigilant in reviewing Madison Hall's salary structure, but lately it seems that they are more afraid of making Casteen upset or unhappy than doing the right thing.
So next time you are walking past Madison Hall at 4:30 on a weekday, look around for the high paid administrators with their fancy cars. That is your student debt at work. And next time you can't get into a class because the dean couldn't afford the extra teaching assistants, find solace in the fact that the Provost's Office spends more than $1 million for its payroll. Maybe one of those special assistants can tutor you during their lunch hour.
(Sam Waxman's column appears Thursdays in The Cavalier Daily.)
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