A front-page article in the Nov. 18 Sunday Boston Globe highlighted the salary and benefits packages afforded to former University presidents, with a focus on President Emeritus Jehuda Reinharz. Students and faculty reacted, voicing their concern about Reinharz's compensation but noting that excessive executive compensation is not an issue unique to Brandeis.

Reinharz's salary and benefits, as reported by the Justice in a Sept. 24 article, totaled about $627,000 in 2011. In 2009, his penultimate year as University president, Reinharz made about $1.5 million in salary, benefits and other compensation. Reinharz served as University president from 1994 until University President Frederick Lawrence took over on Jan. 1, 2011, making him the second-longest serving president of the University.

According to University administrators, Reinharz's post-presidency salary has declined from its high in 2011. Reinharz's total compensation is approximately $300,000 each year from 2012 through 2014. In 2014, Reinharz will be compensated as president emeritus until June at the same rate as 2012 and 2013, with a total compensation that year of about $160,000. After June 2014, Reinharz's annual salary will be $180,000 as a half-time professor.

The Globe article questioned Reinharz's current role on campus, stating that he does fulfill the usual roles of a History professor, as he does not teach classes nor does he supervise graduate students. "The chairwoman for Near Eastern and Judaic Studies said she did not even know whether he was officially a member of her department," wrote the Globe.

Prof. Sylvia Barack Fishman (NEJS), the chairwoman of NEJS, however, wrote in an email to the Justice that "[t]he comments that the Globe reporter attributed to me were not accurate." She stated that Reinharz is a member of the NEJS faculty.

"On a regular, ongoing basis, he is generous as a mentor and guide for graduate students and faculty members, and in donor stewardship and development. Professor Reinharz devotes considerable time and service to Brandeis University and to his research and publications," wrote Fishman.

In an email to the Justice, Senior Vice President for Communications Ellen de Graffenreid listed Reinharz's duties, which she said included helping with the presidential transition, cultivating and introducing Lawrence to donors, overseeing the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry and pursuing academic research.

According to the Globe, Reinharz was "noncommittal about how much time he devotes to Brandeis."

"I've never worked at Brandeis by the hour," Reinharz told the Globe in an interview. Lawrence "asks for advice. I give it. And I don't look at my watch." According to the Globe, Reinharz spent the first year of Lawrence's presidency on sabbatical.
Reinharz told the Globe that he is currently co-writing a book on the history of the donkey in literature. "There are smart donkeys, stupid donkeys, evil donkeys, etc., and no one has ever contemplated this on a large scale," Reinharz told the Globe. "It's probably the most ambitious topic I have ever contemplated."

In an email to the Justice, Reinharz called the article "incomplete in its analysis."
"Given all the time that I spent with the reporter as well as getting him answers and details on every question he asked, I thought he would have been more fair and balanced in his reporting," he said. "I am committed to fulfilling my duties as President Emeritus and I intend to do just that."

In response to the article in the Globe, members of the Brandeis community have expressed concern about the amount of compensation received by Reinharz. On Sunday, many students and alumni reposted the article to Facebook.

Junior Representative to the Board of Trustees Alex Thomson '15 wrote in an email to the Justice that he would bring "the serious concerns students have with this to the Board of Trustees."

"The Boston Globe piece sheds light on an issue that is not unique to Brandeis, as many universities across the country have similar agreements with their past presidents," wrote Thomson. "That being said, I am very concerned with the idea of raising tuition each year while we continue to pay Reinharz's compensation."

Chair of the Faculty Senate Prof. Eric Chasalow (MUS) said faculty reaction to the article has been "mixed," with "some anger and frustration."

In an email to the Justice, Prof. Sabine Von Mering (GRALL) wrote that "[l]ike elsewhere we now have some administrators who earn ten times what some faculty earn. And faculty are privileged compared for example to our cafeteria workers. That's simply wrong and out of balance.

"Our alumni and our Board of Trustees should be national leaders in fighting this trend of growing income disparity. ... We must practice what we preach. This includes our former President Reinharz. There is a donkey in one of the brothers Grimm's fairy tales that shits gold. President Reinharz should know better than to treat Brandeis like a donkey that shits gold."

Chasalow wrote in an email to the Justice that "faculty are very concerned about all kinds of financially driven issues that Brandeis shares with all universities."

"So naturally, out of context, the payments to Dr. Reinharz seem to be in competition with our goals," wrote Chasalow. "But context does matter, and as president, Dr. Reinharz raised $1.2 billion, adding desperately needed endowed faculty chairs, sorely needed facilities, and significant student scholarship funds, more than quadrupling the endowment. In his role at the Mandel Foundation, he continues to make a significant contribution to the financial future of Brandeis."

Prof. Mary Baine Campbell (ENG) drew attention to the reader comments on the online version of the article. "They don't bode well for Brandeis fundraising or recruitment," she wrote in an email to the Justice.  "The interview seems an unfortunate lapse of judgment on the part of our former president, though the facts of the compensation stand by themselves as a bad advertisement.

"Maybe this will, at least inside Brandeis, lead to some soul searching and some changes," said Campbell. "It's wrong to pay people so much for doing so little when many other people at Brandeis are being paid less than a living wage for doing a lot," wrote Campbell in an email to the Justice.

Several hours after the release of the Globe story, the University published a response on BrandeisNOW. "The decision by the Board of Trustees in 2009 to retain Jehuda Reinharz as President Emeritus was fully consistent with best practices for leadership succession planning," read the statement. "According to an independent compensation review, his president emeritus compensation (which ends in July 2014) was just slightly above the median amount paid to retired presidents at peer institutions."

In an email to the Justice, Reinharz responded to the Globe article by emphasizing his record at the University. "I am very proud of my record and hope to continue to be of service to Brandeis for many years to come," he wrote.
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