The Badger Herald

As the University of Wisconsin continues to be ranked one of the universities with the lowest chancellor salaries within its peer class, the topic of subsidized stipends from donors has increasingly become a relevant topic for the Board of Regents.

UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee are currently the only two campuses whose foundations offer their chancellors additional stipends. But Board of Regents officials said they are looking into subsidizing the salaries for other chancellors, according to Charles Pruitt, UW Board of Regents vice president.

According to UW System spokesperson David Giroux, UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley and UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago earn extra stipends from their school’s foundation for their extra work raising money for fundraising campaigns.

The pay stipends Wiley and Santiago receive were written into their offer letters when they were hired as chancellors in an agreement with the foundations “to provide major support for fundraising campaigns,” Giroux said.

“They came into the system when the expectations for chancellors to be this involved in fundraising was not part of their job,” Giroux said.

The Board of Regents received an opinion when Wiley was hired from then-Attorney General Jim Doyle that said the foundation could give Wiley additional money for performing duties beyond the job description, according to Pruitt.

“It is above and beyond the normal and customary responsibilities,” Pruitt said.

Giroux also said the UW System is “very much interested in finding an appropriate way of leveraging both private and public ways to fund our chancellors.”

The regents readjust the salary ranges of chancellors in the UW System each year to be 10 percent below that of the median salary in the peer group, Pruitt said. Adding a stipend from a foundation would not bring the chancellor’s salary up to the median level, but it would increase the amount of compensation they are receiving, he added.

Pruitt said the board is looking into offering this to other chancellors, but it needs to be done “on a case-by-case basis.” He said it is very important for the requirements and expectations of the chancellor to be clearly defined.

“We are particularly interested in increasing chancellors’ compensations,” Pruitt said. “This isn’t the magic that is going to solve all of our problems, though.”