I expect many colleges and universities will be following suit, given lower enrollment and the stagnant economy.

Ry Rivard of Inside Higher Ed reports.

The Last $5M Payday?

Brandeis University paid its former president, Jehuda Reinharz, $4.9 million on Jan. 2, three weeks before it announced an overhaul of its executive compensation policies.

Reinharz, who quit his post as one of the nation’s highest-paid college presidents in 2010 on a sour note, gradually won the payout through deferred compensation over his 17 years as president. This month’s massive payment — perhaps one of the largest ever by a nonprofit to an individual – included $4.1 million in deferred compensation and $811,000 for untaken sabbatical.

Brandeis’s new compensation policies, announced last week at the same time as Reinharz’s payment, are designed to assuage campus outrage and perhaps prevent this from happening again. The new policies are meant to encourage transparency and equity — characteristics not associated with private college compensation packages — and give Brandeis faculty unprecedented say regarding presidential pay.

Even before the exact sum was announced, local media had reported some smaller details of Reinharz’s post-presidency fortune. Those comparatively small amounts – $627,000 in salary and benefits in the 2011 tax year – had already prompted 1,600 students, parents, alumni and faculty to sign a petition expressing their shock and demanding changes.

“At a time of crisis, or at least perceived crisis, Jehuda cut classes, slashed salaries and laid off faculty and staff, but during that same time the people who run Brandeis saw no contradiction between him doing that and giving him tons of money – either they saw it was no contradiction or they checked out,” said Sahar Massachi, a recent graduate who started the petition.