“They Control Funding”

Bill to curb California college execs’ pay raises (excerpts)

Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, July 19, 2011

Days after California’s public universities handed lucrative new pay and bonuses to three executives and a chancellor while raising student tuition, a state senator has introduced a bill to make such pay increases illegal in tough economic times. The bill, filed Monday by state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, would prohibit executive pay increases at the University of California and California State University in years when the state does not raise its allocation to the schools…

On Friday, UC regents gave a 24 percent raise to Associate Vice President Santiago Muñoz, from $201,400 to $250,000. Taxpayers pay 40 percent. They approved a 10 percent increase for Vice President Patrick Lenz, from $272,500 to $300,000, all from taxpayer funds. And they gave Mark Laret, who runs the UCSF Medical Center, a $195,300 raise, to $935,000, with a retention bonus of $1 million over four years. His pay is from medical center revenue…

Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville, wrote UC President Mark Yudof that the regents’ decision “reveals a shocking misalignment of priorities.”

…(UC) officials defended the higher pay. Lenz and Muñoz deserve the raises because of increased duties, said UC spokesman Steve Montiel. “Their compensation increases total $47,440 per year in state funds,” he said. “It’s a wise and relatively modest investment.”

Laret’s raise was necessary because a head-hunter from Harvard University had contacted Laret, although no offer was made, UCSF Chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann told The Chronicle. Laret’s involvement in completing UCSF’s new medical center at Mission Bay is one reason he must stay, she said.

Meanwhile, it’s not clear whether UC would have to abide by Yee’s bill if it became law because it has constitutional autonomy. “But we take seriously any action by the Legislature and the governor,” Montiel said. “They control funding.”

Full article at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/18/BAAA1KBVD6.DTL

Indeed, they control funding; about $2.5 billion out of a $20 billion UC budget.