http://blog.oregonlive.com/steveduin/2008/12/behind_the_scenes_dave_frohnma.html

Behind the Scenes: Dave Frohnmayer's Salary

Last week, Bill Harbaugh -- an economics professor at the University of Oregon -- wrote an Op-Ed piece which focused on the economy at the University of Oregon.

Daily EmeraldUO President Dave Frohnmayer

In the essay -- titled "Misplaced priorities? Follow the money" -- Harbaugh hit on some familiar themes, noting that while many things are in decline at UO, the compensation package of university President Dave Frohnmayer is not.

If money is tight in the Oregon University System, Harbaugh wrote, the OUS Board "has somehow found the cash to increase UO President Frohnmayer's pay by 325 percent." He pegged Frohnmayer's total compensation at $717,000 ...

...And that prompted a revealing response from Ryan Hagemann, secretary of the State Board of Higher Ed.

Hagemann wrote to The Oregonian, arguing that Harbaugh's numbers were wrong. He argued that Frohnmayer received a state salary of $245,700 and additional compensation from the UO Foundation of $199,260, putting his annual pay at$444,960.

"As such," Hagemann's letter states, "Mr. Frohnmayer's total state and privately funded annual pre-tax salary combined is $444,960, not the inflated number of $700,000 as cited by Mr. Harbaugh. lf Oregonians are interested in comparing university presidents nationwide, The Chronicle of Higher Education completes an annual survey which is available on their website."

As a result, the Op-Ed editor, Galen Barnett, asked Harbaugh if he could reconcile his numbers or if the paper needed to run a correction.

Harbaugh copied me on the subsequent exchange of e-mails, in which he makes a persuasive case that "OUS is blowing smoke for Dave Frohnmayer, and they are doing it on the taxpayer's dime."

Harbaugh and Hagemann agree that The Chronicle of Higher Education is the authoritative source on compensation packages. At Chronicle.com, we read, "Total-compensation figures include salary and benefits from institutional and private sources, annualized amounts of deferred compensation, and the amount of bonuses for which chief executives qualified during the fiscal year." An accurate figure should also include "housing and car allowances." Chronicle.com also considers the use of a university- or state-owned home, club dues and expense accounts part of compensation, but it doesn't include dollar amounts for those benefits in its final calculation.

You'll notice I bold-faced "deferred compensation." Harbaugh counts it. Hagemann, curiously, doesn't. Here's the breakdown of Frohnmayer's compensation, according to Harbaugh: