The median total compensation of 199 public college presidents surveyed by The Chronicle of Higher Education increased by nearly 3 percent during the 2010-2011 academic year, The New York Times reported. During this time, three chief executives of public colleges were paid over $1 million each, and the median pay of the surveyed presidents increased by 2.9 percent to $421,395. The median base pay increased by 1.3 percent to $383,800, The Times reported. E. Gordon Gee, the president of Ohio State University, earned $1,992,221 13 times the pay of the average professor at Ohio State in total compensation, according to The Times. Even on campuses facing budget cuts, presidents seems to be "insulated from the experience," Chronicle reporter Jack Stripling said in an interview with The Times. These disparities have resulted in particularly heated debates over executive pay in the University of Minnesota and California State University systems, according to The Times.
The tax-exempt status of an organization affiliated with a fraternity at Bucknell University was revoked by the Internal Revenue Service, Inside Higher Education reported on Tuesday. The IRS ruled that Graystone University Housing Corporation, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity chapter at Bucknell, did not qualify for tax-exempt status because it only helped the fraternity maintain and operate its physical plant. Graystone was established in 2003 in an effort to raise money to renovate the fraternity's plant while ensuring tax exemption on donations. Although the IRS backed tax exemption for Graystone twice on the premise that their activities facilitated an "educational pursuit," it recently reversed this decision after determining that the company's activities are predominantly social in nature, since living and dining support do not qualify for exemption purposes, according to Inside Higher Ed.
Colleges and language schools received a bulletin from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security stating that college-run language programs must provide evidence of specialized accreditation during their certification processes or they risk revocation of their ability to enroll international students, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. The Student and Exchange Visitor Program, a branch of Homeland Security that oversees the student visa system, now requires independent language schools to prove that they are in the process of applying for accreditation if they are not already accredited. Some college-run programs argue that they should automatically qualify for the visa system because they are part of larger institutions that already possess regional or national accreditation, according to The Chronicle. Educators say that earning accreditation can take a year or more, which could prevent foreign students, who often use college-run language programs as a point of entry to the United States, from studying in the country.
