The University of Connecticut announced it plans to review the salary levels of all non-faculty administrators, following a barrage of criticism over the salaries of the university’s two top police officers–$246,961 and $193,616.
“We hear your criticism, but I want to assure the public that we are responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars,” said Larry McHugh, chairman of UConn’s board of trustees. “Mistakes, although well intentioned, can be made. This board needs to take steps to monitor these salaries… Checks and balances need to be in place.” “
Larry McHugh, chairman of UConn’s Board of Trustees: ‘We hear your criticism’
McHugh announced a task force has been created to review and compare salaries of non-faculty, non-physician, non-union employees at the 4,100-non-faculty university system during a board meeting Wednesday in Storrs.
McHugh said while the compensation of all non-faculty, non-physician, non-union employees will be reviewed, the focus will be on top administrators’ compensation. There are 286 top-level administrators and managers at UConn, which equates to 3.7 percent of all their full-time employees, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s database.
McHugh’s remarks follow a report in the Hartford Courant earlier this month that two top-ranking police officers at UConn make well above their counterparts and the police chief in New York City.
Asked if this would result in scaling back the salaries of administrators, McHugh said the report will help guide future compensation levels.
“We are not looking to go backwards, we are looking to go forwards,” he said. “We are not looking to be the highest priced.”
Currently UConn’s president has the sole authority to set salary levels for top non-union employees — and McHugh said that is a problem.
“What we want to have is not have the board in the dark,” he said, suggesting that the board may soon consider requiring that it sign off on salaries and raises. He gave no time frame for how soon this task force would make recommendations.