LSU Faculty Senate criticizes chancellor's raise

By WILL SENTELL
wsentell@theadvocate.com
Capitol news bureau

The LSU Faculty Senate approved a resolution Wednesday that criticizes Chancellor Mark Emmert's recent 70 percent pay increase.

The vote was 23-11, with about half the Senate's members absent or not voting.

The group rejected a separate resolution that was less critical of the pay raise and asked Emmert to meet with the Senate to discuss ways to improve the university.

The LSU Board of Supervisors approved the pay raise in July. It boosted Emmert's salary by $205,000 a year, to $490,000. The increase is financed by private foundations that support LSU.

Backers say the pay boost was needed to keep Emmert from leaving for the University of South Carolina, which showed interest in the chancellor earlier this year. Critics contend the salary increase is too high, especially for a school that is chronically underfunded.

Emmert is also scheduled to get $100,000 a year from LSU support groups if he stays at the school for another five years.

The resolution said the raise makes Emmert the top-paid chancellor of any state university in the nation, that it did nothing to enhance LSU's academic standing and was not accompanied by a rigorous evaluation of his job performance.

Dominique G. Homberger, a professor of biological sciences and one of the sponsors of the resolution, told the group that "stratospheric" pay raises are driving a wedge between top administrators and faculty.

"All of us are overworked," Homberger said. "All of us are underpaid."

Homberger also questioned whether Emmert should make more than the chancellor of the University of California at Berkley, one of the top schools in the country and that is located in one of the most-expensive parts of the nation.

Emmert could not be reached at his home or office Thursday to comment on the faculty representatives' criticism. LSU was shut down Thursday because of Hurricane Lili.

Michael L. Cherry, a physics professor, offered a competing resolution that praised the LSU Board of Supervisors for retaining Emmert and gently criticized the size of the pay hike.

Cherry's proposal asked Emmert to meet with the Faculty Senate to discuss his ideas on boosting LSU's academic rank to a level in keeping with Emmert's salary.

Cherry said that, if the chancellor had been hired away by the University of South Carolina, "that would have been a major issue."

The Faculty Senate rejected Cherry's proposal.

While the pay raise has triggered lots of talk on the LSU campus, several faculty members trickled out during the hour-long debate.

The Faculty Senate includes 68 members and a five-member executive committee.