Thanks to the Boston Globe!

Were it not for the Boston Globe's reporting, the public would not be aware of such egregious abuse.

Governor Deval Patrick has failed miserably on oversight, maybe due to campaign distractions elsewhere oe focusing on Predatory Gambling and backroom deals.

Yet another Governor with no roots to the Commonwealth or its future!

Will we ever learn?


UMass to review Jack Wilson’s pay pact
Panel will examine terms and process
By Todd Wallack and Mary Carmichael Globe Staff

The University of Massachusetts is launching a review of an agreement that allows former president Jack Wilson to continue drawing his presidential salary while on a yearlong sabbatical and then, as a professor, earn nearly triple the average salary of senior faculty members.

The Globe reported last week that when Wilson, who left the presidency in June, moves into a teaching position next year his salary could reach $316,784, an average of the salaries of the provosts at the five UMass campuses.

That is much higher than the salaries of almost all senior UMass professors, which the university originally said could serve as a benchmark. It also differs markedly from the amounts in Wilson’s previous employment contracts, largely because it the calculations involved were skewed by inclusion of the medical school provost’s salary - far higher than that of the other provosts.

Wilson is being paid his presidential salary of $425,000 this year while he prepares for his professorship and takes the sabbatical, which involves a large amount of informal work for the university.

“There are lots of questions about this. I just found out about it when I saw the morning paper,’’ Governor Deval Patrick said Wednesday. “My understanding is that not even all members of the board were informed about this. I don’t think I should have an opinion on it or venture an opinion on it until I get the facts.’’

Departing university presidents are often given sabbaticals and professorships at public and private universities, where officials say corporate-style perks are needed to attract qualified candidates. Critics said former presidents should not receive presidential pay during sabbaticals or unusually high salaries for professorial work.

“I understand the value of an appropriate salary to attract the best talent for our public universities,’’ state Senator Michael Moore, cochairman of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Higher Education, said in a statement Friday. “However, I share the frustration of many middle-class families who are angered by generous perks and golden parachutes at a time when they can’t send their own child to college. With UMass more expensive than ever, I think it sends the wrong message.’’

UMass has appealed repeatedly to the state for more money. It recently decided to close a campus pharmacy and trim health services available to students. But it retains many high-paid administrators, including Wilson. Of the 50 public employees in Massachusetts with the highest annual base salaries, 47 are part of the UMass system.

Wilson’s most recent salary agreement was negotiated by former board chairman Robert Manning in July 2010. Manning consulted the board’s compensation committee in defining the terms, but was not required to discuss the details with the full board nor to make the agreement public, the university said.

Manning did not respond to phone messages seeking comment.

James Karam, the current chairman of the UMass board of trustees, said the compensation committee would review the process that set the terms of Wilson’s transition to ensure it complied with university policies. The panel is expected to reach a conclusion in January - well before Wilson starts his term as a professor, which leaves time to set his final salary accordingly.

Karam said the committee “believes the intent was for the salary to be the average of the four provosts’ salaries excluding the medical school, which would bring him into the [$200,000] range.’’

Several members of the compensation committee agreed that the inclusion of the medical school in Wilson’s salary calculations was a point of contention. “My concern would be that the transaction was fair and appropriate - fair to the outgoing president and in the same breath appropriate with respect to the best interest of the university system,’’ said Henry Thomas, a committee member.

Philip Johnston, a former state legislator and Cabinet member who is also on the compensation committee, said the group had previously reviewed the 2010 agreement as well as other contracts. “We didn’t see anything out of the ordinary,’’ he said. “It’s a reasonable contract for someone who has served a long time as president of the university and did a great job. It’s modest and well-deserved.’’

That said, Johnston added that he was not sure how the medical school provost’s compensation came to be factored into the 2010 agreement, given that it was not included in earlier pacts.

“That needs to be examined,’’ he said. “. . . If it was an addition, we need to understand why.’’

Wilson himself said he believed the contract should not have included the medical school salary. He said he would ask the university to leave it out when setting a final number.