Brandeis has ranked seventh out of 20 private universities in average disclosed compensation of its top eight employees in 2008 and fifth in combined compensation of its four highest-paid employees reported in 2008, according to a recent report from the Tellus Institute, a Boston-based nonprofit research organization.

The report examines the pay packages received by upper-level college executives at the wealthiest 20 private universities in Massachusetts, revealing information about income differences between top officials, lower-level employees and third-party corporate compensation within these schools.

It lists former University President Jehuda Reinharz as Brandeis' highest compensated employee in 2008 with a compensation of $830,643.

The Tellus Institute and its Center for Social Philanthropy compiled the report, titled "Academic Excess: Executive Compensation at Leading Private Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts." According to its website, the Institute "works to advance a global civilization of sustainability, equity and well-being through research, education, and action."

Because the Institute did not have access to universities' most recent tax forms, the report draws from the schools' 2009 federal tax filings, according to Joshua Humphreys, senior associate at the Tellus Institute and founding director of the Center for Social Philanthropy, in an interview with the Justice. The report looks not only at annual employee salaries but at total compensation, said Humphreys.

Humphreys said that the "big takeaway" of the report is that, though news stories about college presidents making over $1 million were rare 15 years ago, they're now "nearly the average."

"I was very surprised in the course of this research," said Humphreys. The excessive executive compensation examined in the report represents "a more structural problem" with private universities and how they choose to allocate funds, he continued.

Referring to the University specifically, Humphreys said that there is "still a lot of confusion about Brandeis during the financial crisis." Humphreys said that Brandeis' decision to enact layoffs and program cuts while executive compensation continued to rise "at a time when the economy [had] not really recovered at a really robust rate" represents a "bigger issue" in the University's priorities.

Humphreys also referred to the now-reversed 2009 decision to close the Rose Art Museum, saying that the fact that the administration would "fathom" selling some of the museum's art is "indicative … of misplaced priorities."

In an email to the Justice, Senior Vice President of Communications and External Affairs Andrew Gully wrote in response to the report that "one main emphasis point [of the report] was that chief investment officers and others who manage university endowments were highly compensated at some schools. That does not apply at Brandeis, and our Form 990 clearly demonstrates that fact."

The goals of the report, Humphreys said, are to "help the public of the Commonwealth [of Massachusetts] to understand more fully" how universities spend their money and the importance of transparency and to provide "momentum" to pass currently proposed legislation that calls for fuller disclosure in outside compensation and conflicts of interest.