{"id":1084,"date":"2015-05-14T21:29:28","date_gmt":"2015-05-15T02:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/gazette\/2015\/05\/14\/a_front_page_article_in\/"},"modified":"2022-05-28T16:56:51","modified_gmt":"2022-05-28T21:56:51","slug":"a_front_page_article_in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/2015\/05\/14\/a_front_page_article_in\/","title":{"rendered":"Questioning a Gallant Gesture"},"content":{"rendered":"

A front page article in our local newspaper described how the incoming president of the University of Texas at Austin – the second largest university in Texas, by student population – has declined a $1 million salary<\/a> in favor of “only” $750,000 per year (plus deferred pay, and a bonus which he also requested be capped at 10% instead of the offered 12%). Gregory Fenves is apparently concerned that a seven-figure salary could be negatively perceived by faculty and students.<\/p>\n

I’m sure that Dr. Fenves has only the purest motives in requesting a lower salary, and in some circles his gesture is getting rave reviews, but I can’t help thinking this is yet another attempt to legitimize the angst over so-called income inequality that’s become a favorite cause du jour<\/i> in liberal circles. And the implied, even if unintentional message he’s sending to students is that rewards for achievement should somehow be limited for the “greater good of society.”<\/p>\n

A good question to ask Dr. Fenves would be “if $750,000 sends a better message than $1,000,000, wouldn’t working for $0 send the best message of all?” Seriously. What level of compensation is “right” for a given position or a given level of achievement? I suspect the answer to that question for many would be “I don’t know, but it’s less than you’re making now.”<\/p>\n

Also, in light of UT’s 2014-2015 operating budget of $2.6 billion, Dr. Fenves’s gesture is completely inconsequential from a fiscal perspective (it works out to about $5\/student). It won’t make an iota of difference in program or staff funding, or in the fees and tuition paid by students. If he wanted to truly have a measurable impact, he should have taken the full offer, then donated $250,000 each year to a scholarship fund, or to another worthy charitable cause. But this would have had the effect of transferring control from the “government” to the individual, another liberal no-no.<\/p>\n

As a rather ironic footnote, on the same day we learn of Dr. Fenves’s gesture, we also learn the details of UT’s new basketball coach’s contract:<\/p>\n

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UT System regents have approved Shaka Smart’s contract as bball coach. Here are the terms. pic.twitter.com\/XRCviuqV5L<\/a><\/p>\n

— Matthew Watkins (@MWatkinsTrib) May 14, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n