With all the controversy over Federal funding and other requirements, it is no surprise that 2025 was an extraordinarily hard year for administrators in higher education. The turnover has been significant: Inside Higher Education reports that at least 8 of the Big Ten Presidents have left their jobs in favor of new candidates.
This is not to suggest that a “normal” or “ordinary” year as a College or University President or the Head of an independent school is particularly easy. I know of one situation where, despite our having obtained six weeks of paid annual vacation (and periodic sabbatical entitlements) in the President’s contract, the President of a small liberal arts college took a single day off during an entire calendar year! That is 1 out of 365!
The stresses and sheer workload required by these jobs—which may pay more than a faculty salary but often much less than what the football or basketball coach is making—are the reasons why the President’s contract should contain a number of essential protections.
A College or University President who accepts the school’s initial offer without the advice of an experienced attorney is risking the possibility of a disaster in the event that what initially looked like an exciting appointment goes wrong, often because of circumstances out of the President’s control.
What are some of these essential protections?
1. Comprehensive Benefits. In addition to a good base salary, a College or University President should receive other important forms of compensation, some of which are different from those in a commercial CEO employment contract, such as:
— housing (if the school has a President’s residence, commonly used for institutional purposes, meetings, dinners and guest receptions, as well as living quarters), or, in its place, a housing allowance;
— an adequate long-term disability insurance policy for the President, particularly one who is under 60 years of age and statistically more likely to suffer disability than death (general group disability policies will not cover nearly enough of the President’s salary for any adequate time period, and the fact of disability—which must be carefully defined in the contract—generally means the end of salary from the institution);
— several different categories of explicitly reimbursable expenses for items such as travel, entertaining and other purposes;
— and perhaps most importantly, significant deferred compensation (with the accompanying tax benefits) to provide for the President’s retirement after the end of an all-consuming job.
2. Adequate Severance and “Good Reason”. The Board of the College or University customarily retains the power to terminate its CEO “without Cause”, so the President’s attorney must try to ensure that in the event of such a termination (sometimes expected and sometimes not), the school continues to pay the President’s base salary and some additional benefits for no less than a full year—even if that extends beyond the term of the contract—and hopefully longer, eighteen months or even two years. This severance amount can be boosted by additional periods of paid sabbatical leave not previously taken.
Also, because the President usually forfeits any and all future compensation if he or she resigns, any anticipated conflict which might cause the President to want to resign should be included in a contractual clause which would state one or more “Good Reasons” allowing him or her to resign and still receive the same severance payments as if terminated “without Cause”.
3. Tenure and Retreat Rights. Many Presidents already have academic tenure at the institution they are leaving. The contract should assure that these Presidents receive equivalent tenure at the college or university at which they are being offered the presidency. This is true even if they will not be expected to do any actual teaching while serving as President.
This means that if they leave the presidency for another reason than “Cause”, they may “Retreat” to the faculty usually at the highest or one of the highest faculty salaries. Although it rarely happens that an ex-President wants to stay on the faculty of a college or university where they have served as President, these “Retreat Rights” are worth considerable dollars, and provide important leverage in negotiating a better departure package.
Lisa, Theresa and I wish our readers a continuance of good and warm Spring weather.
