At Florida A&M University, new president Marva Johnson is set to receive a hefty compensation package — one that the university can’t afford.
Per state law, the university may use a maximum of $200,000 from state-appropriated funds to pay for Johnson’s salary, which according to reports could reach over $839,000 in her first year. Usually, the remaining difference would be covered by the university’s foundation, but because it lacks the funds, lawmakers have proposed a fix.
A last-minute addition to the state’s budget would allow the university’s board to use extra money — such as from past state appropriations — to pay Johnson’s salary, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
But Johnson’s unusually large salary points to a larger trend in Florida. Leaders at the University of West Florida, Florida A&M, and New College of Florida — all of whom have close ties to Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican — receive salaries that James H. Finkelstein and Judith A. Wilde, experts in executives contracts and pay, said are out of the scope of their respective institutions.
“You’re more likely to see governing boards wanting to make certain there are candidates who are aligned with certain ideological principles, and they’re willing to pay whatever it’s going to take to get them. And that’s the lesson of Florida,” said Finkelstein, a professor emeritus of public policy at George Mason University.
At Florida A&M, Johnson’s appointment, which was confirmed by a statewide governing board on Wednesday, and compensation have already caused tension and worries over political influence. The search process was criticized for its lack of transparency, with some alumni filing a suit earlier this week against the university’s board over how the search was conducted.
The lengths that the Legislature are willing to go for Johnson’s salary is “unfathomable,” said Samique March-Dallas, the FAMU chapter president of the United Faculty of Florida, the state’s faculty union.
“You’re trying to figure out the salary for one person. You’re not trying to figure out the salary for faculty and staff who’ve been overworked and underpaid for decades,” said March-Dallas, who is also an associate professor of finance.
“There is a pervasive underpayment across all sectors at FAMU, including faculty and staff. And so then you should do something about that,” she said.
A spokesperson for Florida A&M said the university had no comment on how the compensation package for the institution’s new president was decided on. Johnson’s predecessor, Larry Robinson, had a yearly salary of over $591,000.
Wilde, a research professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason, said a couple of factors have contributed to the national rise in presidents’ salaries — which increased by 56 percent at public flagships between 2010 and 2019. Those reasons include boards treating colleges like corporations and candidates wanting competitive salaries compared to their counterparts.
But in Florida, the increases are “far beyond” the national trend, Finkelstein said. “None of these schools are R1, R2, flagships, or top-tier liberal-arts colleges, yet the presidential packages look like they are.”
At the University of West Florida, Manny Diaz Jr., Florida’s education commissioner, is set to earn a $643,000 base salary (plus $98,000 more in vehicle, housing, and moving allowances) for a one-year contract to serve as interim president starting July 14.
Diaz, a political ally of DeSantis who was instrumental in statewide efforts to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, will make over $100,000 more than his predecessor, Martha Saunders. A spokesperson for UWF did not provide comment on how Diaz’s salary was chosen.
DeSantis has promised conservative reforms at West Florida, a regional public university in Pensacola that enrolls over 14,000 students.
At New College of Florida, where DeSantis oversaw a conservative overhaul of the small liberal-arts college, president Richard Corcoran earns over $1 million in base salary and additional benefits.
Finkelstein said Corcoran’s pay resembles that of a president of an elite liberal-arts college, such as Middlebury College, in Vermont. New College, which enrolled only 732 students in fall 2023, doesn’t fit that category, Finkelstein added.
A spokesperson for New College wrote in an email that Corcoran’s compensation package was “developed in alignment with a third-party market analysis conducted by Mercer,” a consulting firm.
How New College pays Corcoran is under scrutiny, as two former finance officers for the institution’s foundation claim they were ousted for refusing to use donor-restricted funds to cover the salary, as Suncoast Searchlight reported. The spokesperson for New College said “no restricted donor funds have been used for unrestricted purposes, including compensation.”
Wilde said that although the challenges of being a university president have grown (calling it an “eight-day-a-week job”), exorbitant salaries cause tension with faculty. She said the average tenure of a college president has decreased, but pay is simultaneously rising.
“It’s the faculty who are there many days a week, specifically working with students, and are there for years and years,” she said.
And qualifications seem to be less of a consideration, Finkelstein added.
“In Florida, the less higher-education experience you have, the more you’re going to get paid.”
