The Campus Connect blog of last Friday noted that The Board of Trustees approved a five-year contract for President Fritz Erickson. The announcement indicated only that his base salary will be $385,000 and that this year’s performance-based bonus is $50,000. I would like to put this announcement into context and suggest some ramifications relative to NMU’s faculty.
The reality of hierarchical organizations is that those at the top are blamed for failures and rewarded for successes that result from efforts of the entire institution. We can see this in the following summary of the compensation of NMU Presidents over the past few years (2013-2014 was the last year of David Haynes presidency, 2014-2015 the first year of Fritz Erickson’s).
Fiscal Year Base Salary Bonus Total Change to Base Change to Total
2013-2014 $206,641 $0 $206,641
2014-2015 $220,000 $0 $220,000 6.5% 6.5%
2015-2016 $224,400 $20,000 $244,400 2.0% 11.1%
2016-2017 $228,888 $20,000 $248,888 2.0% 1.8%
2017-2018 $262,000 $50,000 $312,000 14.5% 25.4%
2018-2019 $385,000 $50,000 $435,000 46.9% 39.4%
When enrollment was down, increases in presidential compensation were small; the 2016-2017 increase was less than that of the faculty. In contrast, when enrollment was up, so was presidential compensation, significantly so. But in four years, the president’s base salary has increased 75.0% and base+bonus has increased 97.7%. Now we must put this into perspective. Has this salary history been justified? The following are rank-ordered salaries (I could not find information about bonuses) of presidents at other Michigan public universities for the 2017-2018 academic year.
University of Michigan $824k
Michigan State University – $510k (interim) $750k (previous)
Wayne State University – $497k
Oakland University – $457k
Michigan Technological University – $455k (new president)
Western Michigan University – $450k
Central Michigan University – $430k
Grand Valley State University – $425k
Eastern Michigan University – $400k
Ferris State University – $373k
Saginaw Valley State University – $280
Northern Michigan University – $262k
Lake Superior State University – $200k
The new presidential salary puts NMU fourth above only three other public universities in Michigan. It appears that President Erickson started at a relatively low salary, and large increases in compensation when NMU is doing well have brought his salary more in line with the competition (see recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education for additional data, including bonuses for some schools; https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/executive-compensation?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=96983a9eb49d4f7fb200919f8f825d48&elq=0677f7127b104cd08f9b3e5ead52b0a6&elqaid=19745&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=9127#id=table_public_2017). Replacing a president is expensive, and those who have been around a while know that some new president’s work out while others do not. I believe that the Board came to the conclusion that it is worth paying President Erickson a competitive salary to keep him here. In that regard, I have heard that there is an early-departure clause in his contract that requires a substantial repayment of compensation if Fritz leaves NMU prior to the end of the five-year contract. All indications are that President Erickson’s compensation is not out of line with similar institutions. I will not begrudge him his success. Whatever one thinks about our capitalist system, significant pay differentials are a reality; and university presidents make a lot of money. However, a union axiom is that a higher standard brings all workers up; poorly paid workers do not benefit by attacking the compensation packages of union workers. More importantly, what does this significant presidential salary increase say about NMU and how should it affect all employees?
First, we know that there is money in NMU’s budget for priorities, and many examples are apparent. The Administration and Board must believe that appropriate compensation for all employees is a priority. Second, this presidential contract acknowledges that competitive salaries are necessary to attract and retain quality employees, and such people are the basis of NMU’s recent successes. Fritz also recognized the value of our team effort in his thank you email to the university community on Friday. A quarter century ago, NMU faculty had the best salaries among Michigan public comprehensive universities. Fifteen years later we had low salaries, but good benefits, which put us in the middle for total compensation. Now we are the lowest in the state for total compensation at all ranks. This must be changed if we are to attract and retain the quality faculty, and maintain the dedication and creativity throughout individual careers, that are necessary to continue our recent successes. Third, we must provide competitive compensation relative to our peers, which are Michigan public universities. Low paid faculty in non-unionized states are not our peers and the Board has recognized this in choosing the universities for comparison of presidential salaries.
The big picture message that Fritz’s new contract sends is that NMU is doing quite well, while demographic indicators and other universities’ enrollments continue to decline. We are creating a place where students want to come, and this is good for everyone at NMU. Continuation of this trend will produce the revenues to replace many lost faculty positions so that class size can remain at levels that promote effective learning, give us the resources that we need to do our jobs well, and provide competitive compensation that attracts outstanding new faculty and rewards those who continue to dedicate their careers to NMU. We have two years left on our current contract; next year we will begin the long process of positioning ourselves for successful negotiations that will allow NMU to dedicate resources to rewarding all who help NMU continue in this positive direction.