As the Globe reported yesterday, Drew Faust was paid $775, 043 in salary and benefits for the 2007-2008 fiscal year.

The amount reflects $640,000 in cash compensation, $81,304 in moving and other expenses, and $53,739 in benefits. Harvard provides its president with a home on campus in addition to her compensation.

The Globe immediately reports that this amount is far smaller than some presidents of other universities, referencing David Sargent, the president of Suffolk University, who received $2.8 million last year. 

(One wonders if this and other numbers were fed the Globe by the Harvard press office; it feels that way.)

This is something of a bogus example, as no one else was even close to Sargent.   What I think would be a fairer question: How much would Faust have done the job for? Are you telling me that if you only paid her $500k, she’d say no? $400k?

The point is not whether Harvard has inflated university president salaries just as other schools have. It’s whether Harvard sets an example of disciplined spending. Clearly, that’s not the case.

Example #2: Larry Summers. The Globe reports…

Former Harvard president Lawrence Summers, who was forced to resign in 2006, was paid $611,226 during his final year as president in 2005-06. Yesterday’s filing showed that Summers received $732,373 for the last fiscal year, 2007-08, during which he was a university professor, Harvard’s highest-ranking professorship. He also has a $1 million mortgage loan from the university.

Summers’s 2007-08 earnings reflect $580,000 in cash compensation, $120,452 in expenses and other allowances, and $31,921 in benefits. His expenses and other allowances include a $62,640 in “special agreement payment,” $52,042 in loan interest subsidies, and $5,500 from the Harvard Kennedy School.

I think it’s the case that Summers didn’t teach a class at Harvard last year. What exactly was he being paid for? Why is Harvard paying him $120,000 in expenses? We can assume that Summers’ travel was paid for by the banks who lavished millions upon him to buy influence with the Obama administration. How exactly did Summers rack up $120k in expenses?

Here’s a story for a Crimson reporter to do: Investigate the institution of the University Professor. Look at the combined salaries of those professors, and then see how productive those professors are—in any given year, how many courses do they teach? How many books do they publish?

I’ll guarantee you, it’s a big story. And in a time of “reshaping,” nothing should be sacred.

I understand that Drew Faust meets regularly with the Crimson. (Maybe not now, that it’s almost Commencement time.)

How about asking Faust these questions:

1) Did you receive a raise from your 2007-2008 salary? Will you instead volunteer to accept a pay cut for the 2008-2009 fiscal year? Will your pay cut be at least 25%, the amount funds for Harvard houses are being cut?

2) Why is Larry Summers being paid more than you? Is he continuing to receive salary from Harvard, even in the form of deferred compensation, even though he no longer works at the university?

And for the members of SLAM, here’s a piece of rhetoric for you: While Harvard cuts hot breakfast for students, Drew Faust is making millions and living in a mansion.

What do you bet they’re still serving hot breakfasts at the president’s house?