Showing Us the Money
Harvard has released its annual list of salaries, which it must disclose by law. Larry Summers is making $637, 824; Steven Hyman earns $371, 710; and v-p for government blah-blah-blah Alan Stone pulls down $313, 549. (No wonder Stone keeps such a low profile.)
A couple of points:
* The Harvard Management Company officials are making less than they did last year.
* Summers' compensation package is actually diminished because, apparently, of a lower tax burden on his Washington apartment (which, last time I checked, he was sharing with a roommate). Does Harvard really need to pay for Summers' Washington abode?
* The highest-paid people at Harvard are administrators, not professors.
* There are some high-paid female administrators, but the highest-paid administrators are men. Why does Alan Stone make 300k when v-p for finance Donna Rapier only makes $200k?
* Finally, though I can't prove anything, I can't help wondering if this report isn't cooked in some way. Summers' salary has gone up steadily since he took office (with the exception of his last year, Neil Rudenstine made less than $400,000); this is the first year that Summers' salary increase has been modest.
Since it would have looked terrible for Summers to have gotten a big raise this year, I can't help but wonder if the numbers were jiggered to avoid the appearance of rewarding Summers for what has been essentially a disastrous year.
But as I say, I have absolutely no proof of that. Just a sense of how much Harvard cares about appearances, and how sensitive the question of Summers' compensation is.
