Big Ten Presidents and Chancellors Can't Be Quiet When They Make Over $13 Million in Taxpayer Money

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren has taken a lot of criticism for the way he's handled the postponement of fall sports and thus football, and much of that is deserved given how haphazardly everything has happened on his watch. The conference released a schedule with supposed guardrails for delays, then canceled the season under a week later. Warren has only spoken on the record through a handful of reporters, his son is playing football in the SEC this season, he contradicted university administrators in an open letter, and he's been thus far unwilling to even directly listen to the concerns of players and parents.

But ultimately he made the decision after an alleged consensus of Big Ten university presidents and chancellors. These people are quite well compensated with taxpayer money -- collectively, about $13.6 million. Yet, most of them are such craven leaders that they won't even publicly say how they voted -- if there ever actually was a vote at all. Minnesota president Joan Gabel said there was never a vote per se, but that there was general agreement to cancel the season. Nebraska chancellor Ronnie Green said there was indeed a vote and he voted against canceling the season. Ohio State president-elect Kristina Johnson reportedly was not ready to vote to cancel the season, but has not said so herself. (Ohio State's reported planned insurrection met its fate when Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer was allegedly a "roadblock".)

The Big Ten is made up of 14 universities. With the exception of Northwestern, all of them are public. That a decision of this magnitude can be made by these people and there is no actual individual accounting or accountability of where these chancellors and presidents stood is just astounding. With that as context, we are choosing to name them and publish their salaries to illustrate how absurd it is that most of them are hiding behind commissioner Warren and have gone nearly two weeks in witness protection program.

Unless otherwise noted, these numbers are 2019 salaries -- yes, some of these people are taking pandemic pay cuts, but many of them have also gotten raises since these numbers -- are from this database from the Chronicle of Higher Education. If you didn't know what these administrators were earning before, prepare to get sticker shock:

Illinois

Chancellor: Robert Jones
Base pay: $666,393
Total pay:
$737,340

System President: Timothy Killeen
Base pay: $600,000
Total pay:
$716,842

Indiana

President: Michael McRobbie
Base pay:  
$633,504
Total pay:
$952,239

Iowa

President: James Bruce Harreld
Base pay: $590,000
Total pay:
$628,704

Maryland

Chancellor: Jay Perman

Perman was named chancellor of University of Maryland in November 2019 and I can't find his current compensation, but he reportedly made about $970,000 last year as president of University of Maryland Baltimore.

Michigan

President: Mark Schlissel
Base pay:
$868,171
Total pay:
$920,295

Michigan State

President: Samuel Stanley
Base pay:
$800,000
Total pay:
Potentially $1 million per year with bonuses

Minnesota

President: Joan Gabel
Base pay:
$640,000
Total pay:
$790,000

(Source)

Nebraska

System president: Walter Carter
Salary: 
$934,600

(Source)

Chancellor: Ronnie D. Green
Base pay:
$469,937
Total pay:
$495,808

Ohio State

President: Kristina Johnson
Base pay:
$900,000
Total pay:
$1,460,000

(Source)

Penn State

President: Eric J. Barron
Base pay:  
$844,796
Total pay:
$1,118,247

Purdue

President: Mitch Daniels
Base pay:
$409,379
Total pay:
$962,412

Rutgers

President: Jonathan Holloway
Base pay:
$780,000

(Source)

Wisconsin

Interim system president: Tommy Thompson
Base pay:
$489,334


Chancellor: Rebecca Blank
Base pay:
$571,202
Total pay:
$628,135

 

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