2 I April 17, 2015
The Guilfordian
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WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM/NEWS
INEQUITY
Administrative pay rises, facuity pay goes unchanged
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financial officers at baccalaureate institutions
was $145,000. But in 2012 - 2013, Guilford paid
its vice president for finance $165,653.
A Disturbing Discovery
Much of the mformation about administrator
pay was already available to the community
because the IRS requires nonprofits to make
their 990’s public. So, when faculty members
were interested in the 2013 - 2014 form filed
Feb. 13 of this year, they went to Interim Vice
President for Finance Jimmy Wilson ‘84.
When Wilson provided them with the forms,
they were stunned by what they saw. Nearly
every administrator saw an increase in reportable
compensation over the previous year. All told,
total administrator compensation increased 12
percent over the previous year’s filing.
“The faculty were concerned, because faculty
salaries have been frozen and faculty positions
are being cut,” said Clerk of Faculty and
Professor of Geology and Earth Sciences Dave
Dobson, who asked Wilson for the form. “The
institution is undergoing budget restructuring
and all that, so it seemed like a bad time to be
significantly increasing administrator pay.”
Faculty sprang into action. A faculty meeting
was called for March 25, during which many
faculty members expressed outrage and began
to plan their next step. Some faculty went as
far as to call for adniinistrators to return the
apparent bonuses.
Questions & Answers
The question on everyone’s mind: why
were these compensation increases paid out as
Guilford plunged into a financial crisis?
According to Fernandes, who has been
working with the board of trustees on this issue,
the compensation increases go back to 2009 -
2010. At that time. President Kent Chabotar was
planning his retirement from the presidency.
“Because everything was going so well,
there was concern that maybe some of the
senior staff members would look for another
job and go to another job because they knew
that President Chabotar might be thinking
about retiring,” said Fernandes. “So, President
Chabotar recommended to the board that each
of the senior officers be offered a retention
agreement.”
The retention agreements stipulated that
if the officers stayed until 2013 - 2014 when
Chabotar announced his retirement, they would
receive a payout ranging anywhere from about
$15,000 to $50,000.
Offering retention agreements at all has
struck many in the community as vmusual.
Retention agreements are more common in
the corporate world and are used to keep the
best executives together during acquisitions and
away from competing firms.
“I’m not aware that it’s done in higher
education,” said Fernandes. “In my experience.
I’ve never been at a college that used retention
agreements at a time of presidential transition.”
Now that the agreements have been paid
80,000
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50,000
I 40,000
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out, a number of recipients are lea^g' br have
left. Aaron Fetrow, former dean of students and
vice president for student affairs and Gregory
Bursavich, former vice president for finance,
left Guilford after receiving their payments last
year. Additionally, Academic Dean and Vice
President for Academic Affairs Adrienne Israel
announced her intention to step down at the
end of the spring 2015 semester.
Fetrow declined to be interviewed for this
article, citing the non-disclosure clauses in the
contracts he and his former co-workers signed
with the college.
The spike in Chabotar’s compensation
came from a different source. As part of his
contract with the College, he had a deferred
compensation plan. Each year Chabotar
remained president, Guilford would contribute
a certain amount to the plan and after a certain
number of years, the plan would pay out a
lump sum.
In 2013 - 2014, Chabotar received a payout
of about $88,000. This was not the first time
either; he received a similar payout in 2010 -
2011.
“Deferred comp is sort of a retention
agreement in a way because it’s putting
something out there to make it attractive not to
leave your employment,” said Wilson. “If you’re
trying to keep a president or somebody like
that, it’s obviously a big incentive not to leave.”
Chabotar declined to be interviewed, citing
a lack' of knowledge, but encouraged students
to listen to information coming from the
administration.
Current Cuts
Guilford’s budget crisis has affected everyone
on campus. The religious studies department
has already announced that they will no longer
teach Islamic and Judaic Studies.
“From the perspective of the College, it’s
really a big loss,” said Betsy Mesard, visiting
assistant professor of religious studies. “The
department is pretty important, given that it’s
a Quaker school.”
Some faculty and staff have already seen their
positions jeopardized.
“We’ve already seen cuts to the faculty,
including in our department: a colleague
who’s having a baby a month before Guilford
is terminating her position,” said Associate
Professor of Religious Studies Eric Mortensen.
“(It’s) very painful.”
The colleague in question is Mesard.
“This is my first year and my only year, it turns
out,” she said. “(My position) was approved
during the final year of the previous president,
but the new president reevaluated all of those
positions and (mine) was not reapproved as a
permanent position.”
The same has happened to not only new
faculty members, but dso long-serving faculty.
Fernandes told the faculty in a meeting on
Faculty Salaries^
2009-2014
O
2009
2014
*Numbers are
based on average
salaries for each
category of
employee
Professor
Associate
Professor
Assistant
Professor
Instructor
April 15 that Guilford will have to eliminate the
equivalent of 40 full-time staff positions and
17 full-time faculty positions. She emphasized
that no programs or departments would be
eliminated, but that everyone must do their best
to save money.
Equality, stewardship, community
On April 8 in the West Gallery of Founders
Hall, the Clerk’s committee hosted a forum
open to the community to discuss fair and
equal compensation policies for Guilford.
Faculty, staff members and students, including
Fernandes, attended the forum.
Members of the committee presented
alternative compensation structures used at
other Hberal^s colleges.
“I think it’s wonderful to compare, but what
we have to do at Guilford College is discern
our values and our principles, what we want on
this campus and become the model for other
campuses,” said Project and Communications
Manager Delilah White.
Many shared their concerns about the salary
poUcies currently in place.
“There shouldn’t be faculty and staff members
who are struggling to make a minimum wage a
living wage,” said junior Teresa Bedzigui. “There
shouldn’t be a culture of faculty members not
being able to speak their minds.”
One of the results of the forum was the
setting up of a committee to directly address
pay inequity at Guilford.
“Now will be the time that people come
together to address long overdue concerns,”
said Teresa Sanford, IT & S applications
administrator. “I saw a real surge in unity to get
that done.”
However, some feared that progress would be
lost amidst the flurry of committees.
“I was one of the people that said, ‘Let’s push
it to the board (of trustees) and have them come
back and do the right thing about salaries,”’
said Professor of Mathematics Rudy Gordh. “If
they don’t, I think we should revolt.”
Community members have questioned if
the core values actually influence institutional
behavior.
“Equality, although not directly related to
these budget cuts, is stiU a problem at Guilford,”
said Mortensen.
Others believe these core values are long
gone and that a new set prevails.
“I came up with a list that I call ‘rotten-to-the-
core values,”’ said Professor of Art Roy Nydorf
“Anti-community, elitism, hypocrisy, inequality,
anti-ethical, poor stewardship, insensitivity and
inhumanity.
“All this information has been a great big
secret, so it’s shocking as it’s coming to light. It
makes me sick.”