"corporate-style management"

Selections from the AP story below. Check out the last line.

Pay packages rise for college presidents
WASHINGTON - More college presidents are earning annual compensation of $500,000 or more, fueled in part by stiff competition by schools for the best candidates, according to a study.

Some 112 of the 853 public and private university presidents surveyed said they had pay and benefits packages of more than half a million dollars, according to an annual report being published Monday in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The jump was more prominent among public university presidents, rising from 23 last year to 42. The median pay package for those leaders is now $374,846, about 4 percent higher than last year's median of $360,000.
....
The survey attributed the pay increases to increased competition for top candidates, who are seeking more money amid growing job duties and a move toward more "corporate-style" management at universities.

Shameless? Yep. And rather irksome. Especially when you consider the rate of increase in college tuition at four year schools. What a racket! There are hiring freezes and early retirement offers as part of the corporate style management. The trend is to replace the lost teaching staff with contingent labor, people who are just as qualified as their 20 year senior peers were when they first came on the market. But these folks are coming onto the market in the new era of "corporate style management" of universities. This leaves them with prospects of temp jobs with no or few benefits and lower pay scales than those offered for the few tenure track faculty positions.

The next time you're wondering why you or your kid is taking 6 years (without time off for bad behavior) to finish what used to be a 4 year degree due to lack of availability of class space or a total absence of decent academic advising, consider how much these jackasses at the top are making. Kinda pisses you off, huh? Does it piss you off enough to write to your state legislators and tell them this is a disgusting use of your money? It does me, although I doubt it would help in my state. The appropriations committee chair is in my university's pocket.