Harvard president claims he is taking 25% pay cut following federal funding cuts
https://www.masslive.com/news/2025/05/harvard-president-claims-he-is-taking-25-pay-cut-following-federal-funding-cuts.htmlOpen linkView original on lemmy.world132
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I will still be making an obscene amount of money but please pat me on the back. Tuition is 60,000 per year now btw thaaaaanks
I don't know how compensation works in academic administration, but if there's any vesting going on then you could "take a pay cut" but end up making more due to previous compensation vesting.
Certainly possible for public companies, but again, unsure if that could be the case for a university president...
I have no idea and feel media should give more context when they quote like that.
Vesting generally requires there to be some asset you become entitled to. In private companies that's stock, but Harvard is a non-profit (and a school) so I don't think they have any equivelant.
Looking online, it does seem likely there are bonuses and other forms of compensation. But I think agreeing to take a pay cut is him trying to do right, or at least indicate that he's willing to take a hit too.
If he can afford that he was paid too much to begin with.
As much as I love to rag on the rich, this isn't a useful way of thinking. Plenty of poor people have had to have pay cuts or be forced to pay more and need to find some way to manage that to survive - so it'd be really easy to claim they could afford it after all and thus the logic of "if they can afford it they were paid too much" could apply to anyone.
I mean it is one of the premiere educational institutions in the world. I imagine they're looking for some of the best people to run the school and that has a cost.
Also, unlike CEOs or for-profit companies, his compensation is probably his own income (from the school).
https://archive.is/7HrFs