Who in higher education is worth a million bucks?

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2015, five chancellors and presidents in the public sector made that milestone.  Some three dozen CEOs in the private sector of our industry apparently merited that kind of money in 2014.  Most of this "top 40" still is far behind the nearly 30 college coaches who topped $3 million in '14. 

Are CEOs worth the big bucks they get paid?  Well, there are a number of ways to come at this.

Once upon a time, probably because I was just jealous, I was highly critical of such obscene compensation packages.  However, in my dotage I have come to believe that really effective top dogs are worth their weight in gold.  And this is as true for a business or educational organization as it is for a nation or a cause.

Two other considerations should be taken into account.

First, Europe and Japan seem to be able to get top performances out of their CEOs without the outrageous comp packages typical to American free enterprise.

Second, nobody ever does it alone.  And when your employees are grossly underpaid and short on benefits... when your graduates are overburdened with mortgages on their diplomas... when your universities are in danger of financial failure... then you ought not to get that kind of "reward."

In my view, too often today, the CEO's package is more a reflection of having made the leap into an elite club, where the Board members are also comfortably ensconced... rather than a reflection of actual performance and contributions.  One solution?  Tying at least half of all CEO comp packages to clear, quantifiable performance measures.  That solution lies in the hands of the Board members.

The second solution, the one aimed at dealing with the great and still growing wealth gap, lies in the hands of working people themselves (ourselves?).  There are two non-exclusive ways to close the gap:

1.  Recapture a larger share of the profits, e.g., via effective union organizing and collective action, and/or

2.  Vote politicians into office who will work a redistribution, e.g., replacing employer-sponsored healthcare with Obamacare.

At the level of higher education, free community colleges are a great step in the right direction.  Significantly lowering the costs of instruction,  and passing these efficiencies on to students in the form of lower tuition and fees, is another.

Show me the president who can do the latter, while keeping her/his institution financially sound, and I can support a seven figure comp package.