Western’s administrative bloat problem: the elephant at WMU’s negotiation table

As most of us know all too well, dizzyingly high administrative salaries and VIP perks aren’t only a feature of elite universities, but have become a fact of life at relatively affordable regional universities like Western Michigan University. With the WMU-AAUP in the thick of negotiations over faculty salary and benefits, and after years of sacrifices by WMU employees, this is surely a good time to look at what WMU thinks is a reasonable compensation to offer administrators. Will these well-heeled administrators continue to accuse employees demanding meaningful raises of being greedy or out of touch?

According to documents the WMU-AAUP obtained from WMU by FOIA:

• the President, Edward Montgomery, in addition to receiving over $500,000 base annual salary, also has housing (and house maintenance and housekeeping) and car paid for, as well as club memberships, e.g., The Park Club and the Kalamazoo Country club. He is provided an additional $50,000 per fiscal year as an “executive retirement benefit,” and up to $10,000 per year reimbursement “to purchase life insurance to cover the costs of health insurance coverage for his spouse in the event of the President’s death.” Despite an overwhelming Vote of No-Confidence in him by the faculty, his salary and bonuses have only increased.
• the Vice President of Marketing, Tony Proudfoot, with a $252,000 salary, was offered a $12,000 “bonus” simply for signing his contract and also received a “performance bonus” of $13,000 authorized by President Montgomery. In addition, he receives a $625 monthly automobile allowance, club memberships, and was offered up to $10,000 for moving expenses.
• the Vice President for Research and Innovation, Remzi Seker, receives a salary of $278,000, club memberships and up to $10,000 for moving expenses.
• the Provost, Julian Vasquez Heilig, who earns $350,000 annually, receives a $625 monthly automobile allowance, club memberships, and received a $25,000 “bonus” simply for signing his contract. In addition, he was offered the value of up to one month of his salary for moving expenses.

In decades past, university administrators were usually individuals with long service as faculty members who often remained rooted in, and primarily motivated by, academic values and concerns. These days, presidents, provosts, deans, and the like often have relatively little experience with students or research, or with the critical dynamics of shared governance. Instead, such individuals are often hired for their willingness and potential to “manage” people, as well as campus and public opinion. Whatever their backgrounds and motivations, many are extravagantly compensated even as they routinely lecture the rest of us about the need to “tighten your belts” and “do more with less.”

Many faculty members, staff employees, and students are queasy about the rock-star salaries of elite administrators, especially at institutions like Western that owe much of their success to first-generation, working class students. That our university continues to enrich elite administrators while simultaneously telling WMU employees that WE’RE too expensive — frequently suggesting we’re lazy or greedy— is basic gaslighting. Western Michigan University has made the value it places on administrators crystal clear. Just so, the employee compensation it agrees to at the negotiation table will be the clearest expression of what WMU thinks the rest of us are worth too, that is, the value of the employees who actually carry out the university’s core mission.

To show your support for fair pay, and the dignity and worth of the WMU employees who make WMU possible, pick up and display your WMU-AAUP signs, wear your WMU-AAUP t-shirt, and stand ready for action. Let’s fight for our university, our students, our negotiation process, and one another!