Regents approve Harter’s raise from UNLV Foundation

Friday, Oct. 15, 2004 | 9:48 a.m.

RENO -- In an unprecedented move, the state Board of Regents approved a proposal Thursday allowing the private UNLV Foundation to supplement President Carol Harter's salary by $50,000 a year.

In addition to the raise, the foundation will set aside $40,000 a year toward Harter's retirement fund and give her a $250,000 bonus if she successfully meets the foundation's fund-raising goals in the upcoming $400 million to $500 million capital construction campaign.

"I'm very grateful," said Harter after a session in which she was roundly praised for her 10 years at UNLV.

Harter, whose contract expires in 2008, now earns $219,616 and receives an $18,000 housing allowance and an $8,000 auto allowance. The $50,000 supplement will be routed through the university system and will be fully taxable.

This is the first time the Board of Regents has allowed a private foundation to supplement a president's salary, although they approved the idea in concept last fall as a way to keep and recruit better administrators.

The increased salary, however, came with some strings. At the request of Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers, regents, in the 9-2 vote, also approved a new contract for Harter that includes performance standards and details disciplinary procedures.

The contract allows regents to discipline or even fire a president for cause, including demonstrated dishonesty, insubordination, neglect of duty, personal misconduct that brings into question the president's ability to do the job, violation of board policy or regulations or violation of any federal or state laws.

If a president is fired for cause, the Board of Regents is no longer responsible for paying the remaining contract. A tenured president would be reassigned to the faculty, but would only receive the presidential salary for the remainder of the calendar year.

Rogers said Harter has agreed to the new contract, which he wants regents to approve for future presidents. In the future, Rogers also wants regents to give the chancellor the authority to discipline and even fire presidents.

Several regents questioned both the raise and the contract, but in the end only Regents Howard Rosenberg and Bret Whipple voted against it.

Rosenberg said he was concerned about the "ramifications to the system." Rosenberg, a professor at UNR, said he worried about the wide difference in salaries and the inability of other foundations to supplement presidential salaries.

Rosenberg also said this might result in "split loyalties" involving UNLV and the foundation. He said if the presidents are underpaid, the regents should raise their salaries.

Whipple said he wanted more time to study the new contract. Regents Mark Alden and Tom Kirkpatrick were absent.

The majority brushed aside fears that allowing the foundation to supplement Harter's salary would create inequity in the system among other presidents or that it might result in a divided loyalty between the school and the foundation.

Both Rogers and foundation members argued that the supplement was necessary to keep Harter at UNLV and to be able to recruit presidents in UNLV's future.

"It is essential we keep Carol here," Rogers said. "Dr. Harter has been underpaid for the 10 years she has been here."

He said she works 15 hours a day in a stressful job and that in the private sector, she would be earning $500,000.

Ted Quirk, Don Snyder and Dan Van Epp of the foundation all urged the board to approve the contract.

Quirk, treasurer of the foundation, said Harter is "much in demand" and has offers from other universities. He said she is underpaid by $100,000 a year and her salary is in the lowest 25 percent of the schools in the country. This raise would put her at the midpoint.

Quirk said she will lead the capital improvement fund-raising drive, and other universities have recommended that presidents "not be changed in midstream. It can set you back."

The foundations already supplement the salaries of athletic coaches, who make more than the presidents, Regent Jill Derby said.

Derby said Harter has received a "sterling evaluation" and it was generous of the foundation to offer the private money for the salary increase. She said this "is not a mandate for other institutions to act" on getting foundations to raise the pay of their presidents.

Rogers said he has met with UNR's foundation to discuss a similar supplement for President John Lilley, but Mary Ellen McMullen, chairwoman of the UNR Foundation, said it has not yet talked about the issue.

She said the regents should delay action to give her group more time to review the plan and "understand its ramifications."

McMullen said there is a concern about parity. But the board decided to move forward and approve the contract.

The board defeated a proposal to hire independent consultants to periodically evaluate the performance of the presidents. At present a committee of the regents performs these periodic evaluations.

Assistant Chancellor Trudy Larson said people interviewed might feel more comfortable talking with a consultant in confidential sessions. She also said there was a concern about the open meeting law when the regents in closed session conduct the interviews.

Rosenberg said, however, that the regent committee process has worked well and the proposed policy "further removes the board from its responsibilities."

The vote was 6-5 to pass the proposal, but seven votes were needed for approval.