The Board of Regents voted to overturn executive-salary increases last week, a measure it had previously approved.

After intense criticism from legislators, students and administrators, the board voted 12-4 to rescind its Sept. 2, 2003, approval of altered pay ranges for 35 university executives, but it will keep the issue on the table for discussion, voiding the earlier telephone-conference vote and delaying the issue.

The board passed on the matter to the Business and Finance Committee, which will review the issue next month and either vote on the issue or delay it again.

Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager charged the board with violation of the state open-meetings law because the regents failed to give public notice before their vote.

As a result of these charges, the board agreed to better notify the public and the media when planning to deal with salary issues in the future. In addition, the board approved a measure that will require its members to vote on salary issues in a regularly scheduled meeting through a roll-call vote with a majority of the regents present.

The agreements reached with the attorney general will clear the regents from a civil complaint.

Due to the competition of hiring and retaining quality chancellors and other leadership positions within the UW System, Regents Vice President David Walsh and other regents said the pay increases are still valid and necessary.

“Things have changed,” Walsh said. “We have to take a hard look at the UW system.”

However, student regent Beth Richlen said such a decision comes across poorly to the public, students and media.

“It’s not the best message to be sending to students,” Richlen said, adding that such salary adjustments do not necessarily benefit students.

“Students are seeing an increase in their tuition, and then [they] have to hear that their money is going to increase the salaries of executives,” she said.

Richlen explained that problems with increasing salaries sprout from the lack of money to finance them. She said it is hypocritical to increase salaries for executive leadership positions but not increase pay for faculty and staff while increasing tuition for students simultaneously.

“We have to think about what the public will think and what the employees will think. It is like we are telling [faculty and staff] that there is no money for you but there is money for them,” Richlen said.

Although they are skeptical of how far the bill will go, the regents also approved a measure that would increase salaries for UW senior executives, faculty and academic staff for this year and next year by 4 percent.

The Regents concentrated on the future of Wisconsin in another meeting Thursday. The board heard from speakers who stressed the importance of implementing new programs that would draw young people to Madison in order to ensure that a sufficient number of people will live and work in the area in coming years.

The purpose of the initiatives is to keep college students with Wisconsin ties in the state and to allow them to pursue their careers in Wisconsin, in turn boosting nonresident enrollment numbers.