Our Gal Sal—Iowa High Ed Corruption

            Thanks to a recent Chronicle of Higher Education survey, Iowans now know the extent of compensation and the resultant value for money the state is receiving from University of Iowa President Sally Mason. She appeared at No. 5 on a list of top compensated public university CEOs making a total of $1.1 million.

It’s not as if paying our gal Sal so much has given us a better institution. The university made another dubious list—Rutgers Top Party Schools. It came in No. 2. (www.collegeatlas.org/top-party-schools.html)

            This goes a long way to explaining why many middle class young Iowans are being priced out of college—her combo salary and bonuses are twice the average public college president. The American CEO model (paying company presidents many times what the average worker) has been a portion of the vanishing-American-middle-class story, but you’d think a university would have the wit, wisdom and will to buck the trend. Many European countries have outpaced the U.S. in upward mobility and social welfare parameters control factors like CEO salaries and benies. And their young people attend college free!

            Not that anybody blames ole Sal for getting all she can. Blame the Board of Regents and the  Governor who appointed them, content to raise tuition (most years). We can only speculate about what Sal’s salary does for morale among the professors. Never mind, Bruce Rastetter essentially bought the head regent seat by donating $234,000 to Branstad’s campaign.

            If Iowa students were the only losers here, it would be bad enough, but they are not. The Regents have gradually withdrawn funding from Iowa Public Radio, so every single Iowan who wants in-depth news and thoughtful programing loses. When news organizations sell advertising and solicit support news coverage is compromised.

IPR has more and more “underwriting,” thinly disguised ads.Late winter and early spring IPR ran a raft of these from the Iowa Pork Producers. How will that affect stories about hog confinements and manure spills?

Every Critical Eye in the state should write the people who installed our Gal Sal. Nothing like displeasure on paper.

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