Harvard Presidential Pay Near Bottom of Ivies

Former University President Lawrence H. Summers was the second-lowest-paid Ivy League president during the 2005-2006 academic year, according to a survey of presidential salaries published this week by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Summers’ total compensation in the 2006 fiscal year was $611,226, higher only than the salary of Dartmouth’s James E. Wright.

University spokesman John Longbrake declined to comment on current University President Drew G. Faust’s salary but noted that Harvard will next release compensation details in May.

Richard C. Levin, the president of Yale, was the highest paid Ivy league chief in 2005-2006, earning $869,026.

But salaries for Ivy League presidents are not the highest in the country.

Baylor College of Medicine President Peter G. Traber earned $1,355,212, making him the top earning university president.

If the rankings are expanded to include severance and deferred compensation, Lynn University’s Donald E. Ross tops the charts with earnings over $5.7 million in the 2005-2006 year.

Some presidents, on the other hand, decline to take any salary at all.

Boston College President William P. Leahy has done just that since at least 1996, the earliest year for which data is provided by The Chronicle. His salary has been donated to religious organizations.

Derek C. Bok also declined pay when he served as interim president of Harvard last year. In the past, Bok has spoken out against rising presidential salaries.

“Lavish compensation can hurt a university by undermining the effectiveness of campus leadership,” he wrote in a 2002 piece in The Chronicle.

Bok could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The Chronicle’s survey, based on data from 949 universities over the 2006 fiscal year, breaks down compensation into pay and benefits. It also separately lists expense accounts.

During his last year in office, Summers’ use of the University expense account was just over $100,000, which included money for personal travel and a subsidy for a second residence away from campus, according to The Chronicle.

Yale’s expense account covered $9,670 of Levin’s costs that year. But schools use different methods of tabulating benefits, so the figures may not be comparable.

Columbia University’s Lee C. Bollinger took home $769,725, making him the third-highest-paid president in the Ivy League. He used $69,088 of expense account funds.

A Columbia University representative said, “Lee Bollinger’s overall compensation is comparable to his peers and he is not among the highest paid university presidents.”

The presidents of Yale and Dartmouth were not immediately available for comment.