UW, WSU presidents' salaries affected by budget crunch

Washington State University President Elson Floyd announced Friday he will be voluntarily taking a $100,000 pay cut starting Jan 1. That will reduce his annual base salary to $625,000, and reverse most of a $125,000 salary increase he was approved for back in August.

Floyd's counterpart at the University of Washington, President Mark Emmert, has taken a similar action; he's decided to forgo a pay raise this year.

"It's about leadership by example," Floyd said. "It's about the economic crisis we are in right now and I need to set the tone and set the pace for what we do." The WSU Board of Regents said Friday it had "reluctantly" granted Dr. Floyd's request for a very significant salary reduction.

"This action on his part only reinforces our belief that he is the right person at the helm to lead WSU through the challenging times ahead," said Francois X. Forgette, chair of the Board of Regents, in a statement.

Emmert said Thursday that he decided to forgo a raise because "in light of what's going on with the budget and the university's finances, it seemed like a prudent thing to do."

Universities and community colleges across Washington have been asked to prepare for cuts of as much as 20 percent in state funding over the next two years, because of a projected $5 billion general-fund shortfall.

UW Regent Chairman Craig Cole said regents just finished their annual review of Emmert's performance. They found the president had done an "exceptional" job, but, at Emmert's request, had not considered a pay increase.

Emmert's UW compensation package is $905,000, and comes with free use of the UW mansion. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently ranked him second highest-paid among all public-university presidents.

Emmert also sits on the boards of two local Fortune 500 companies, earning an extra $340,000 annually in cash and stock.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com