Tuesday, August 19, 2014

2 College Presidents Take Pay Cuts to Raise Pay of Low-Wage Workers - RUTH MCCAMBRIDGE, Lexington Herald-Leader

These stories of two men who made sacrifices to ensure more equity can help us consider another way. They also provide a image that stands as a polar opposite and a rebuttal to the typical U.S. mega-rich billionaire hero. Not only did Raymond Burse, the interim president at Kentucky State University, request a $90,000 pay cut in order to raise the wages of 24 employees who made less than $10.25 an hour, but the school’s board of regents also approved the request. The second act may be even more important than the first. Burse now makes $259,744 instead of $349,869. Burse is not, apparently, the first president of a university to make this move. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, at Hampton University, William R. Harvey, the president, donated more than $100,000 so that low-wage workers there would make at least $9 per hour. And, again according to the Chronicle, “This is not the first time the Harveys have donated money to support wage increases at the private, historically black university in Hampton, Virginia https://nonprofitquarterly.org/policysocial-context/24641-2-college-presidents-take-pay-cuts-to-raise-pay-of-lowest-paid-workers.html