UH defends six-figure salaries to skeptical Senate committees

State senators Friday jabbed at University of Hawaii administrators over the high salaries and other incentives the university uses to recruit and retain top executives.

The university reported it has 72 employees who earn more than $200,000 a year — about half of them executives, the other half faculty — accounting for less than 6 percent of a $500 million payroll.

But Sen. Will Espero (D, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point) questioned why UH athletic director Ben Jay gets $293,000 a year in salary and is eligible for performance incentives that could bring him another six figures’ worth of bonuses. UH football coach Norm Chow receives $550,000 a year in salary and is also eligible for six-figure bonuses.

"Why does a coach or athletic director in our state system get that benefit when you see tens of thousands of people whose salaries don’t even match what his potential bonus could be?" Espero asked.

Linda Johnsrud, UH provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, said Espero was raising "what is more a moral issue in our society than it is a particular issue" for the university.

But when Espero and other senators compared the salaries of top university administrators with state government officials’, Johnsrud defended the higher pay at the university as essential to attract talented executives. UH President M.R.C. Greenwood, for example, earns $475,008 a year while Gov. Neil Abercrombie makes $123,486. UH-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple earns $439,008 while Lt. Gov. Shan Tsu­tsui makes $120,442. UH General Counsel Daro­lyn Lendio earns $235,248 while Attorney General David Louie makes $120,442.

The salaries do not reflect temporary pay cuts.

"There’s certainly a need to look at some of the really glaring and obvious inequities that we see within our higher-paid administrators," Espero said. "And, yes, you mention, they take a risk, but they choose that risk. And with that risk they’re getting these high salaries."

Senate President Donna Mercado Kim (D, Kalihi Valley-Moana­lua-Halawa), who led a Senate investigation into the university’s handling of a fraudulent Stevie Wonder concert last year, said "administrative bloat" is a growing issue at UH and other universities that are rewarding executives with lucrative pay. She noted that Apple earns about $100,000 more than his predecessor, Virginia Hinshaw, even though "it’s hard to believe that he’s doing something more" as chancellor.

Johnsrud said Apple, the product of a national search, was moving up from provost at the University of Dela­ware to UH-Manoa chancellor, so there was an expectation of a salary increase. She also cited statistics that show UH-Manoa has fewer executives than comparable universities. "There is no way there is administrative bloat at Manoa," she said.

Kim disagreed. "But as far I’m concerned, based on comparison of salaries, we do have bloat," she said. "We have bloat."

Johnsrud said the university does not look at salary comparisons with state government officials when hiring because UH is competing for talent in the academic world. "We want to provide Hawaii with the very best service we can in all of these areas, and we’re going to have to pay to get it," she said. "If you want to be the first to reduce the salaries, you’ll only hurt the university."

The informational briefing before the Senate Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Higher Education Committee on UH salaries came as lawmakers consider several bills that would tighten oversight of the university.