Apr 24
jonpeltoBoard of Regents, Higher Education, Malloy, State Legislature Board of Regents, Higher Education, Malloy, State Legislature
AKA: The ongoing saga known as the Connecticut Board of Regents
Earlier this month, at the request of Governor Malloy’s Chief of Staff, the Chairman of the Board of Regents informed that Board that it would be sending the Governor the names of the three finalists. In that way, the Governor and not the Board would be selecting the next president of the Board of Regents.
Wait, What? readers may recall the two posts entitled “News Flash: What the Hell is going on…Malloy snubs nose at Connecticut law” and “Whoa there…Let’s try telling the truth…”
As the CTMirror reported at the time, the Chairman of the Board of Regent explained that the Board forwarded three names for Governor Malloy to pick from following “a request from the governor’s chief of staff to do so.” The news story quoted Board of Regents Chairman Lewis Robinson as saying, “Which ever one he chooses, we have a fine leader…I think all three are outstanding. I am excited.”
All this despite the fact that the letter and spirit of the law was stunningly clear. The Board of Regents was to conduct interviews, select a candidate and the Governor would technically make the appointment. In that way, the selection process would be done at arm’s-length from the politics of the Capitol.
But alas, despite that clear intent of the law, Governor Malloy and his staff couldn’t help themselves. They wanted to determine which of the three finalists were most likely to recognize their supreme authority.
In response to all of this, the Connecticut General Assembly acted with amazing courage and speed and actually fast-tracked legislation “clarifying” the law by taking away Governor Malloy’s authority to even make the appointment. The new bill put the duty to appoint in the hands of the Board of Regents, tracking the approach that exists with the University of Connecticut’s Board of Trustees.
When the dust settled, there was no bill signing on this one. No smiling faces crowded around the Governor waiting for their copy of the pen that signed the legislation into law.
Instead, as the Hartford Courant noted in their story, “According to a statement from the governor’s office, Malloy ‘signed legislation he proposed in collaboration with state lawmakers’ and said ‘the change will help the next leader institute a long-term vision that increases stability and academic growth for the students at the state’s colleges and universities.’”
Malloy’s statement went on to read, “’I want to thank the members of the House and the Senate, including the chairs of the Higher Education Committee, for working with my administration on introducing this bill and acting quickly on its passage,’ Malloy said, according to the statement.”
So there you go — it turns out that it was all one big misunderstanding and Governor Malloy was actually the one who wanted the new law that made it clear that it was the Board’s responsibility and not his to make the appointment of the next president of the CSU and Community Colleges system.
Thank goodness that was clarified before the governor was forced to personally choose the next president.
You can read more about this story in the follow CTMirror article: http://ctmirror.org/story/19758/after-controversies-general-assembly-votes-remove-governors-authority-naming-college-pre
Apr 23
jonpeltoBoard of Regents, Eastern Connecticut State University, Elsa Nunez, Ethics, Higher Education Board of Regents, Eastern Connecticut State University, Elsa Nunez
When Governor Rell nominated World Wrestling CEO Linda McMahon for a position on the State Board of Education, McMahon claimed that she had a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. Thanks to some investigative work, I learned that the degree was really in French.
More recently, Wait, What? readers will recall that an aide to Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch listed himself on a national website that he served as Bridgeport’s Deputy Mayor for Education despite the fact that Bridgeport didn’t have a position of Deputy Mayor and the young staff person wasn’t actually even at the director level of anything.
In this Internet age, padding one’s resume has become increasingly difficult since the truth is only a search or two away.
That said, “Resume Enhancement” remains a part of our world.
The tactic is especially condemned in the world of colleges, universities and academia, which makes the following story all the more strange.
Connecticut State Register and Manual, often called “The Connecticut Blue Book,” has been the official record of Connecticut government since 1785.
The State Register and Manual lists the President of EASTERN CONNECTICUT STATE UNIVERSITY as Elsa Nuñez, Ph.D.
Meanwhile, the Connecticut Campus Compact (CTCC) is an organization that was established in 1998 and is made up of twenty-eight Connecticut colleges and universities. Its goal is to help colleges develop more effective community partnerships. The CTCC is governed by a Board of Directors, which lists Elsa Nuñez, Ph.D., as its Vice Chair.
Elsa Nunez, Ph.D. also serves on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Association of Human Services, a one hundred-year-old organization that promotes economic security strategies for low-income families.
And Eastern Connecticut State University’s Canadian Studies Program lists Elsa Nunez, Ph.D. as the President of Eastern.
Elsa Nunez, Ph.D. is also quoted by numerous media outlets such as the Manchester Journal Inquirer newspaper and the CT Latino News.
The only problem is, Elsa Nuñez doesn’t have a Ph.D.
Elsa Nunez doesn’t have a Ph.D. but she did receive an Ed.D. (A Doctor of Education) from the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in 1979.
At the time, Rutgers’ granted an Ed.D. from the School of Education in a variety of concentrations including; “(1) Creative Arts Education, (2)Elementary/Early Childhood Education, (3) English-Language Arts Education, (4) Language Education (with emphasis in BilingualBicultural, English as a Second Language, Foreign Language and Linguistics Education), (5) Mathematics Education, (6) Science Education, (7) Social Education.
Let’s be clear. There is absolutely nothing wrong with an Ed.D. but as academics will tell you, an Ed.D. is a very different degree than a Ph.D.
The Ph.D. is an academic doctoral degree and is specifically called a “doctor of philosophy.”
An Ed.D. is traditionally a professional or vocational degree for people who work in the field of Education.
As New York University notes in their Graduate School of Education catalog, “The Ph.D. program is a research degree designed for students who aspire to conduct research throughout their careers in roles such as faculty members, researchers, government employees, policy scholars, or institutional researchers…”
NYU goes on to say, “In contrast, the Ed.D. program is designed to meet the increasing need for visionary and entrepreneurial leaders in community colleges, four-year colleges and universities, corporate-sponsored education, and governmental agencies.”
Or as Wikipedia explains, “In the United States, the Ph.D. degree is the highest academic degree awarded by universities…” Whereas, the Doctor of Education (Ed.D) is a degree that has a more “professional” focus. Wikipedia goes on to explain. “From the very beginning there was a formal division between the Ed.D. and the Ph.D. in education, and the growing popularity of the applied doctorates was met by faculty in the arts and sciences questioning their legitimacy. They argued that practical and vocational aims were inappropriate for doctoral study, which they contended should be focused on producing scholarly research and college professors…The Ed.D. and the colleges of education that granted them continued to face criticism…”
While the issue may seem rather archaic to some, rest assured that at universities around the nation, the debate remains heated. Many academics are particularly sensitive about whether the letters Ph.D. or Ed.D. are listed after their names.
In Nunez’s case, rather than explain that she has an Ed.D. from Rutgers with a concentration in “Language Education (with emphasis in BilingualBicultural, English as a Second Language, Foreign Language and Linguistics Education),” President Nunez’ simply states that she has a “Doctorate in linguistics from Rutgers.”
And that is how Nunez’ bio reads today – “A Doctorate in linguistics from Rutgers.”
It would be fair to say that such a claim is one of those statements that isn’t quite true, but then again, it isn’t quite a lie either.
What is true is that Nunez collects $299,460 a year, plus benefits, as the President of Eastern and now gets an extra $48,000 as a result of the extra administrative duties she provides for the Board of Regents. Her pay raise was caught up in last year’s illegal bonuses that the previous President of the Board of Regents doled out. Those bonuses or pay increase were then revoked but later re-instated for Nunez and one of the Community College Presidents who was also given “extra administrative duties.”
In the world of politics, there is little awareness of the difference between Ph.Ds and Ed.Ds, but that is hardly the case in the world of academics.
And it is for that reason that it is rather odd for Elsa Nunez to approach this controversial issue in the way that she has.
Apr 05
jonpeltoBoard of Regents, Higher Education, Malloy, UConn Board of Regents, Malloy, UConn
The CTMirror has a “must read” follow up story about Governor Malloy’s “request” to interview and select a finalist for the position of President of the Connecticut Board of Regents.
In the article, the CTMirror reports that, “The governor’s spokesman, Andrew Doba, said the interviews aren’t unusual. He noted that the University of Connecticut trustees in late 2010 allowed then-Governor-elect Malloy to interview finalists for the president’s post that went to Susan Herbst.”
File that one under somewhere between “misleading spin” and “out-right lie.”
In fact, in 2010, Governor Rell and Governor-elect Malloy met with Susan Herbst, as did dozens of other individuals, PRIOR to the UConn Board of Education’s vote.
Then, according to press reports, including the Associated Press’ national story, “UConn’s Board of Trustees unanimously selected Susan Herbst at a special meeting Monday, calling her an exceptional leader in higher education who will use her enthusiasm and experience to help UConn push ahead academically and in research.”
The situation that played out yesterday was very different. In this case, “the regents voted Thursday to recommend three finalists to Malloy for the president’s position…” and Lewis Robinson, the chairman of the Board of Regents, who was appointed by Governor Malloy, explained their decision to the CTMirror by saying, “the governor had requested three. And I thought as a courtesy or respect to his office, it would be appropriate to accede to that wish.”
This approach despite the fact that Connecticut law clearly states that it is the Board of Regents who is responsible for selecting the name of the President of the Board.
So just to be clear…
Despite what the Governor’s spokesman says, there is actually a very big difference between Malloy meeting with Susan Herbst before the UConn Board of Trustees voted to make her president and the Board of Regents inappropriately voting to forward three names to Governor Malloy so that he can interview and pick one.
In one scenario, the UConn Board of Trustees was acting legally.
In the other scenario, the Connecticut Board of Regents was acting illegally.
You can read the latest CTMirror story at: http://www.ctmirror.org/story/19641/governor-will-get-pick-next-college-president
Apr 04
jonpeltoBoard of Regents, Connecticut General Assembly, Higher Education, Jepsen, Malloy Board of Regents, Connecticut General Assembly, Malloy
Earlier today, Connecticut’s Board of Regents for Higher Education met and voted to forward three names to Governor Malloy with the request that he pick one to serve as President of the combined State University and Community College System.
But the fact is that neither the Board of Regents nor the Governor has the authority to make the choice in this way.
According to Connecticut law, the Governor nominates the majority of the members of the Board of Regents and, according to the new Board of Regents law passed in 2011, “The Governor shall appoint the chairperson of the board…”
However when it comes to choosing the President of the Connecticut Board of Regents system, the law is absolutely and completely clear.
Section 10a-1b of the Connecticut State Statutes reads, “(a) The Governor shall appoint an interim president of the Board of Regents for Higher Education who shall serve as president until a successor is appointed and confirmed. On or after January 1, 2012, the president of the Board of Regents for Higher Education shall be recommended by the board and appointed by the Governor…”
Governor Malloy did appoint an interim President who was forced to resign after it was discovered that he inappropriately provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses to his staff.
And now it is “on or after January 1, 2012.”
The law is that, “the president of the Board of Regents for Higher Education shall be recommended by the board and appointed by the Governor…”
According to a story that has been posted on the CTMirror website, the Chairman of the Board of Regents, appointed by Malloy, said that the board sent three names for Governor Malloy to pick from following “a request from the governor’s chief of staff to do so.”
The CT Mirror reports that Board of Regents Chairman Lewis Robinson said, “Which ever one he chooses, we have a fine leader…I think all three are outstanding. I am excited.”
But as the CT Mirror goes on to note, “State law requires the board to recommend “the president” to the governor. The board’s decision was announced during a two-minute public meeting following an hour-long meeting of the board behind closed doors.”
“The governor had requested three. And I thought as a courtesy or respect to his office, it would be appropriate to accede to that wish,” Robinson told the CT Mirror.
But the law is the law.
And, this is a law that the Governor’s Chief of Staff helped write and personally lobbied.
If the Governor and General Assembly meant to have the Board of Regents forward three names to a sitting governor so that the governor could then wheel and deal, they would have done that.
Instead it was written in a way similar to the law for the University of Connecticut.
Connecticut law has always been clear that it is not the role of politicians to decide which academic should run our institutions of higher education.
Instead, the approach has always been that governors nominate and legislatures approved the members of the various boards who then have the duty to make the key personnel decisions removed, or at least somewhat, from the realm of partisan and personal politics.
The debate about how best to choose the President of the Board of Regents took place two years ago. A process was decided and that process was put into law.
That process provided that the Board of Regents would go through the selection process and choose who they deemed to be the best person for the job…and the governor would then appoint that person to the post.
The law is the law.
The Chairman of the Board of Regents had an obligation to tell Governor Malloy that the Board was legally obligated to follow the law.
The Board of Regents itself was obligated to tell the Governor that the Board was legally obligated to follow the law.
And Governor Malloy and his Chief of Staff should never have requested that the Board of Regents do anything but follow the law.
As citizens of the state of Connecticut we are left wondering…
What will it take for the Governor of this state to admit that even he is not above the laws of Connecticut?
Meanwhile, Connecticut’s Attorney General should be on the phone right now ordering the Board of Regents to re-convene and conduct themselves in a manner that fulfills their duties under the laws of Connecticut, regardless of what the Governor has asked them to do.
You can find the CT Mirror story here: http://www.ctmirror.com/story/19641/governor-will-get-pick-next-college-president
Dec 05
jonpeltoBoard of Regents, Budget Cuts, Higher Education, Malloy Board of Regents, Higher Education, Malloy
They said it was all about adding faculty for Connecticut’s public colleges. While the number of students had increased dramatically, the number of full-time faculty had declined by 10 percent over the past eight years.
First came Malloy’s merger of the Connecticut State Universities and the Community Colleges. The promise was that the plan would save at least $4.3 million, money that would then be used to hire new faculty.
State Senator Beth Bye, the legislator’s strongest advocate for the merger, echoed Malloy’s claim, writing in a commentary piece that, “One financial benefit of the governor’s proposed overhaul is that an estimated $4.3 million is saved by eliminating duplicative administrative costs…” Senator Bye added that the savings would be used to add faculty.
Then came the tuition increases. The cost for an in-state student attending one of the Connecticut State Universities and living on campus jumped to $19,119.
But Mike Meotti, Governor Malloy’s point person on the merger, and the Executive Vice President of the Board of Regents promised, “This recommended increase will allow our state colleges and universities to hire additional faculty…”
Meanwhile, Governor Malloy’s own spokesman called the increase “fairly modest” and defended the decision to raise tuition during a recession saying that the money would be spent on new faculty.
But today, the Board of Regents announced that the $5.5 million that they pledged to use to hire at least 47 new faculty is being eliminated as a result of Governor Malloy’s recent $14.4 million cut to the new system.
As noted in today’s CTMirror, “A letter from the college system’s chief financial officer instructed college presidents not to move forward with hiring the new positions the appointed Board of Regents for Higher Education approved three months ago.”
And surprise, surprise, the CT Mirror found that “the Malloy administration was not immediately available for comment” on this recent development.
At this point, since Malloy took office last year he has cut state spending on public college and universities by more than 14%, reaffirming his position as the Governor who has made the deepest cuts in the history of Connecticut’s public higher education system.
The result being that, once again, Connecticut students and parents are left paying more and getting less.
The CTMirror story can be found here: http://www.ctmirror.org/story/18367/state-deficit-stalls-promised-new-faculty-positions-higher-ed-shakeup
Nov 28
jonpeltoBen Barnes (OPM Secretary), Board of Regents, Budget Cuts, Higher Education, State Budget, UConn Ben Barnes, Board of Regents, Budget cuts, Malloy, UConn
Faced with a $365 million budget deficit in this fiscal year, Governor Malloy and his budget chief, Ben Barnes, released a list of $170 million in cuts today.
Their list of cuts is quite a commentary on Malloy’s vision of shared sacrifice and on where cuts can actually be made.
After implementing the deepest cuts in Connecticut history to Connecticut’s public colleges and universities…Governor Malloy is now cutting another $10 million from UConn, another $14 million from CSU and the Community Colleges and $1.3 million in student financial aid. (But Malloy is only cutting the financial aid that goes to students attending public colleges; the financial aid to the students attending Connecticut’s independent colleges has already been given out and so can’t be cut).
UConn’s budget is about 1.2 percent of the total state budget – and yet their share of cuts amounted to 6 percent of today’s $170 million in cuts.
Meanwhile, the Connecticut State University and the Community Colleges (now known as the Board of Regents) gets about 1.5 percent of the total state budget – and yet their cut amounted to 8 percent of today’s total cuts.
The message couldn’t be much clearer – Connecticut is dedicated to competing in the 21st Century by disproportionately cutting its system of public higher education.
The full list of $170 million can be found here: http://www.ct.gov/opm/lib/opm/budget/2012_2013_biennial_budget/DeficitMitigationPlan/RescissionTransmittalMemo_11282012.pdf
Oct 26
jonpeltoBoard of Regents, Higher Education, Malloy Board of Regents, Malloy, Phil Austin
Last week it was the resignation of the President and Executive Vice President of Connecticut’s new Board of Regents, the group responsible for overseeing the merged system of Connecticut’s State Universities and Community and Technical Colleges.
The solution, we were told, was that the actual Board of Regents would step forward, take control and actually perform the duties allocated to them under state law.
At their first meeting, they reinstate the inappropriate and previously illegal raises for the Vice President for State Universities and the Vice President for Community Colleges.
Then they hire, as expected, former UConn President Phil Austin to run the Board of Regents.
The Board of Regents votes to give interim President Austin a base salary of $340,000, but say they are withholding any of the extra benefits that pushed up the previous president, Robert Kennedy’s salary, by about $100,000.
Austin’s current base salary at the University of Connecticut is in the range of $285,000.
However, in 2010, Austin actually had a salary and compensation package of $419,000 and last year, Austin’s package was over $427,700.
So what gives?
The actual contract the Board of Regents approved doesn’t actually line up with what the Board of Regents reported to the media and the public
Austin’s contract with the Board of Regents reads, “The President shall receive all normal Board of Regents benefits, including, but not limited to, health insurance for the President and any dependents, dental insurance, retirement plans, deferred compensation plans, flexible spending accounts, vacation and sick leave.”
First off, as an employee of the University of Connecticut, Mr. Austin already gets more than $50,000 in non-salary benefits. Some of those benefits may very well continue, even if Austin takes a full unpaid leave of absence from UConn. However, even if he gives up those benefits from UConn, the cost to the Board of Regents to provide “all normal Board of Regents benefits” will be as much, if not more, depending on how the Regent’s policy handles deferred compensation and vacation and sick leave.
Normally, items such as vacation and sick leave are provided to full-time, year-round employees and not professors, meaning that in addition to his base salary of $340,000 and his $50,000 or so in benefits, Austin could actually find his total compensation package going even higher under the wording of the Regent’s contract.
As the CT Mirror reported, the Regents proudly proclaimed that although Austin, “will be making the same $340,000 annual salary as his predecessor — but none of the additional lucrative incentives — in exchange for leading the state’s embattled, merged public college system on a temporary basis.”
That statement is simply not true.
Worse, as the CTMirror went on to explain, “The regents approved Austin’s pay without public discussion following a one-hour-and-40-minute closed-door session.”
Didn’t these people learn anything from the initial catastrophe?
With no public discussion, there is no public record, which means there is absolutely no public accountability about how these compensation issues might be interpreted.
As the Mirror reported, the “Chair of the Board of Regents explained that “Austin did not seek any compensation beyond the $340,000 annual pay that had been granted to Kennedy.”
Of course he didn’t ask for more, because he didn’t need to ask for any more. Much of it was already part of the basic compensation package that came with the contract.
Finally, there is an additional benefit in the Austin contract that he never had under any contract with the University. The contract approved for Austin reads, “The Board of Regents shall, with prior approval of the Board, within available appropriations and in accordance with the policies of the Board of Regents, reimburse the President for professional development that is appropriate and in the best interest of the system as determined by the Board of Regents and such necessary travel expenses associated with professional development.”
While it is unclear what such language might possibly mean, one thing is for certain; UConn’s presidential contract has no language to “reimburse the President for professional development that is appropriate and in the best interest of the system.”
So the Board of Regents can claim all they want that their new contract isn’t like the one that Governor Malloy’s Office negotiated with Kennedy, but Austin is walking away with a lot more than the $340,000 “base salary” that the Board mentioned.
Oct 26
jonpeltoBoard of Regents, Bridgeport, Malloy, State Politics Board of Regents, Bridgeport, Malloy, Phil Austin
First Governor Malloy selected former UConn President Phil Austin to be the interim President of the Connecticut Board of Regents, despite the fact that he has no experience running community colleges.
And today it has become public that they will be adding a new Chief of Staff with NO EXPERIENCE with public higher education at all. The Chief of Staff’s position is to oversee the day-to-day operations of the agency in charge of Connecticut’s State Universities and Community Colleges.
Keith M. Phaneuf and Jacqueline Rabe Thomas of the CT Mirror are reporting that, “Deputy State Labor Commissioner Dennis Murphy, an administrator with longstanding ties to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, will become the interim chief of staff for the state’s merged public college system.” http://www.ctmirror.org/story/17913/governor-ally-become-college-systems-next-chief-staff
According to the CT Mirror, “Murphy, who will be appointed by Philip E. Austin, interim president for the Board of Regents for Higher Education, also will retain his labor title and split his time between the department and the college system.”
Earlier in the week the Board of Regents informed the existing chief of staff, former Malloy spokesperson Colleen Flanagan, that she was returning to her post as communications director for the Regents, and a new Chief of Staff would be added with a salary of $129,000 plus benefits
Murphy was one of Malloy’s earliest appointees, becoming Deputy Labor commissioner in January 2011.
Murphy previously served as Malloy’s Director of Human Resources in Stamford from 2004 to 2008.
Before that Murphy served as Bridgeport Mayor Joe Gamin’s Director of Labor Relations.
Murphy is the spouse of John Stafstrom, who is the former Democratic Town Committee chairman of Bridgeport and a partner in the law firm of Pullman and Connolly.
John Stafstrom and Pullman and Connolly has received a series of high-profile state contracts since Malloy became Governor including being given the lucrative job of handling the state’s legal work for the Jackson Laboratories project and the new Connecticut Airport Authority.
A graduate of Fairfield University and Boston College, Murphy appears to have had absolutely no experience with any public higher education entities in his career, making him an odd selection for a new public university system that educates well over 100,000 Connecticut residents.
Oct 25
jonpeltoBoard of Regents, Budget Cuts, Higher Education, Malloy, State Budget Board of Regents, Malloy, State Budget
(Or, after translating that to English, read – have these people lost their collective minds?)
Everyone knows that without an educated workforce, Connecticut’s economic future is somewhere between non-functioning and non-existent.
So despite running for office on a platform of increasing funding for public higher education, one of the first things Governor Malloy did was push through the deepest cuts in state history for Connecticut’s public colleges and universities, cuts that, in turn, lead to higher tuition and fees.
Then Governor Malloy pushed through an ill-conceived, counter-productive, merger of the Connecticut State University and the Connecticut Community and Technical College systems. It was a bad idea the when it was proposed twice over the last 20 years, but both of those times it was soundly rejected.
Then the Governor recruited Robert Kennedy to serve as President of the Board of Regents. Kenney’s expertise was not in leading teaching universities or community colleges, but in what are called “land-grant research universities,” of which we already have one, it is called the University of Connecticut.
As President of the University of Maine, his claim to fame was the development of the “New Model Land-Grant University.” In fact, according to Kennedy it was his initiative that “The University of Maine Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences” was formed, in partnership with none-other-than The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor.
In short, Malloy’s choice to run the new Board of Regents had exactly the wrong expertise to develop a successful State University and Community College system. Meanwhile, a former state senator and personal friend of Malloy’s gets the job of Executive Vice President.
Then Kennedy authorized a series of 21 illegal raises, including a $48,000 increase for the Elsa Nunez, the President of Eastern Connecticut State University, who was also taking on the responsibilities of Vice President for State Universities. Another recipient of a $48,000 was David Levinson, the President of Norwalk Community College, who was adding Vice President for Community Colleges to his title. Meotti, the Executive Vice President, also snagged a raise of nearly $50,000 from Kennedy, despite the fact he didn’t have the authority to increase anyone’s salary.
Along came the CT Mirror, and thanks to their investigative reporting, the whole inappropriate situation became public. Board of Regent’s President Kennedy and Executive Vice President Meotti both resigned, and the illegal raises for all 21 individuals were rescinded.
And then today, the Board of Regents met and reinstated the raises of Vice President for State Universities, Elsa Nunez, and Vice President for Community Colleges, David Levinson.
The rationale for reinstating the raises, according to members of the Board of Regents, and as reported in today’s CT Mirror, was that, “the raises were discussed during a closed executive session last year but not voted on in public…[and] The presidents also signed letters of agreement with the system approving the increase at that time”
Apparently the board felt those two factors helped to persuade them to reinstate the raises. Yet the state law could not be clearer, the requirement was not that the Board of Regents discuss raises in private; it was that the Board of Regents and ONLY THE BOARD OF REGENTS has the authority to set compensation.
And just because these two people signed letters accepting illegal raises DOES NOT MAKE THE RAISES APPROPRIATE OR LEGAL.
But, according to Board of Regent member Yvette Melendez, “Reinstating these individuals in these roles makes sense.”
What?
The question isn’t whether these people should be “reinstated” as Vice Presidents under the Board of Regents; the question is whether or not it is appropriate to increase Nunez’s salary by 16 percent, bringing her pay to $347,460 or raising Levinson’s salary by 24 percent, bringing his pay to $252,188.
With ten percent of Connecticut residents out of work, and nearly ten percent more underemployed, not to mention the huge cuts to public colleges, and the new tuition and fee hikes the Board of Regents have and will be adopting, why not simply tell these two administrators to take their $200,000 plus and $300,000 plus salaries and get back to work.
In a year or two, if the economy is better, and these two administrators have proven their worth, then let the Board of Regents consider increasing their salaries.
And in the meantime, if the salaries are not enough to get them to stay, then the quicker they move on the better, so we can get people who are committed enough to do the jobs with salaries that are already excessive.
For more, check out the latest CTMirror: http://ctmirror.com/story/17890/president-raises
Oct 19
jonpeltoBoard of Regents, Malloy, State Politics, Terry Cowgill Board of Regents, Malloy
Terry Cowgill: Regent-gate Taints Malloy: Will Voters Remember?
Terry Cowgill is a regular contributor at CTNewsjunkie.com, has one blog at ctdevilsadvocate.com and is the editor of ctessentialpolitics.com, a website that pulls together the most interesting news stories and blogs every day. The tag line for his blog is “Red Meat for Mushy Moderates.” So, in my case, it means I almost always agree with some of what he says, sometimes agree with everything he says and every once in a while wonder how he could be so off-base.
That said, his pieces are always interesting and informative and I urge you to follow him at those various sites.
Today he has a piece on CT Newsjunkie about the political ramifications of the controversy surrounding the Board of Regents. Since it is an issue I’ve written about extensively – and he even mentions me – I wanted to link to his piece so that readers of Wait, What? can include his perspective in their analysis.
Be sure to take a read… http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/regent-gate_taints_malloy_will_voters_remember/
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