Inside Higher Ed: Camp Jackson
University presidents are often criticized for excessive compensation, but Shirley Ann Jackson is taking heat for a benefit that may place her in a class all her own.
Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is taking heat for her high pay, and a notable perk: a second home in the Adirondacks, provided by RPI in addition to her presidential residence. Inside Higher Ed surveyed all 26 private institutions within the Association of American Universities, and officials with 25 of those colleges confirmed that their presidents are not provided a second residence. The University of Chicago was the only institution not to respond, but Chicago’s 2006 Form 990 only mentions a single home provided to the president.
While RPI is not a member of the AAU, the elite cohort of research universities surely constitutes the institute’s aspirational peer group.
Jackson’s $1.3 million compensation makes her one of the highest-paid private university presidents in the country, and her generous perks have drawn particular scrutiny as the university faces financial challenges. RPI recently laid off 80 of its more than 2,100 employees, and Jackson’s Adirondacks home, first reported on by The Albany Times Union, has emerged as a symbolic structure of inequity.
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