<p>I want this gig: He "resigns" after two years for unspecified personal reasons, and gets more money than he made in salary while he was there! Not to mention living part-time in another state. The package includes a $112,750 bonus for last year (for what?), a $500,000 consulting contract (though he and the board were reportedly "at odds" over several issues), and my favorite, "a $255,000 salary for his faculty position this year in the College of Law, the highest of any professor there, even though Williams will not teach this year." </p>
<p>And although he resigned suddenly just before classes started, he gets to stay in his University-provided condo through January. How nice of them not to inconvenience him!</p>
<p>Meanwhile, tuition is up and state support is down.</p>
<p>University presidents are like CEOs - they have nice contracts, even at public schools. If you really want his gig, go ahead and get a PhD, then spend years moving from state to state working your way through the shark-filled waters of academic politics. </p>
<p>I don’t know anything about this guy, but I can tell you, his deal is no better than the deal for most large company CEOs and university presidents.</p>
<p>PS that doesn’t make it right, of course. But that’s what happens when governments decide not to fund schools: schools then have to become entrepreneurial in order to survive. And capitalism is only pretty for those on top.</p>
<p>I was a real nobody at my previous firm, but when we agreed for my departure, they had to provide me with housing until end of my scheduled employment term, all of my deferred comp was vested, regular compensation until end of term even though I wasn’t working. </p>
<p>It is a fairly common practice when someone senior leaves. You don’t know why he was leaving. How is he suppose to find another teaching job right before school start. If he didn’t do anything wrong, and it was difference of opinion, then the board needs to live up to its contract - full payment, housing.</p>
<p>Jeff Kindler got $4.5 million severance upon leaving Pfizer, on top of his $5 million in bonuses. And this for a guy who arguably ruined the company.</p>
Doesn’t mean I have to agree with it–especially when I’m paying! Williams just took what he could get–it’s the Trustees who wrote the contract who created the problem. If you can make more by leaving and not working, why stick around? Most of us don’t have the luxury of just quitting–we need to save money for college tuition!</p>
<p>I’m sure there are plenty of PhDs and unemployed lawyers who would happily take the $255K faculty position and actually TEACH.</p>
<p>Have you thought that maybe he would have prefered to teach, but the board decided they would prefer if he didn’t? So what is he suppose to do now? He can’t get another teaching job at the last minute. Maybe he lived up to his part of the contract, if so, why should he be penalized?</p>
<p>Who says HE has the luxury of quitting? In my experience, university presidents leave their jobs either because they got a better offer - or because they’ve been pushed out. In a majority of cases, it’s the latter, and the ‘opportunity’ to teach is in name only. (All part of that great ‘gig.’)</p>
<p>I would have negotiated a serious Jungle Jim’s gift card as part of the severance :)</p>
<p>I know people who have left senior positions in order to actually teach or do research. A friend left his Department Chair in a prestigious west coast school to actually stay in school and teach/research. At the president level, doubtful. But if he’s into law he conceivably make more money as a lawyer than he would teaching, so could that be the reason?</p>
<p>I would think that if he “broke the contract” by quitting than the contract should be null and void - but what do I know. I, too, find most of this unbelievable. But maybe there is something that is not being discussed in the newspapers.</p>
<p>It was all very hush-hush. He up and quit, just before the school year, and they’re being all gentlemanly and respecting his privacy. </p>
<p>I keep thinking something will come out…some skeleton that caused him to quit before he was forced out, but nobody’s come out with any revelations.</p>
<p>I liked the guy, but it just doesn’t seem right to quit at this time, leaving the university in the lurch, and not be penalized. Rewarded, in fact!</p>
<p>Getting pushed out, laid off, downsized or outsourced is not exactly uncommon. So he COULD of course do what everyone else does: tap savings, cut back on expenses, borrow from family/home equity, take any old job. (And if his kids were applying to college, people here would tell him they cant afford that pricey LACgo to CC and commute!:)) Hes also retirement age. But Im not worried it will come to that; people that accomplished and well-connected usually have plenty of people to help them through. Its the little people who get no severance and have to hope they get a job at Wal-Mart.</p>
<p>My issue is with the Trustees and the structure of the contract. He only worked two years, but hes getting severance worth the equivalent of three. Especially in an era when small-potatoes public workers are getting bashed right and left, I think thats excessive severance for a public employee.</p>
<p>At least it’s not as bad as Boston University, who hired and fired Daniel Goldin in 2003 and then gave him $1.8 million severance when he never even worked a day!</p>