YES: Executive salaries reek of hypocrisy

UBC President Stephen Toope made $575,813 last year. Spelled out, that’s five-hundred seventy-five thousand eight-hundred and thirteen dollars. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, get this: He is once again one of the top three paid employees in BC’s public sector. If that still doesn’t mean anything, before taxes, that could pay for 130 domestic Arts students to go to school this year.

There has been a movement toward paying presidents more and more, according to a New York Times article. This stems from the prevailing view that universities should be run like corporations. The high salaries are for attracting talented and competent individuals. Like Stephen Toope. Who has done what again?

According to the same New York Times article, some university presidents across America took symbolic pay cuts. It’s a pittance—five per cent—but it shows that they care enough to at least feign sympathy for the students who are experiencing giant cuts in financial aid. So for you, Toope, that’s $28,790.65 on the total you took home, including compensation, which would send a mere six Arts students to school this year.

If these salaries are for attracting talent, why haven’t we seen the effects? We still have the same giant classes, with professors who couldn’t care less, and faceless, uncaring faculties. UBC lost over $200 million in its endowment in the past year. Scholarships have been slashed, departments gutted and the university is considering raising fees on professional courses. Toope and other university officials aren’t feeling the pinch at all. They don’t have to. Apparently, that’s our job.

Beyond that, in this giant financial crisis, we have seen that the current corporate model doesn’t work. As companies go under and people are getting fired, those at the top are still making money hand over fist. If UBC is trying to run itself like a corporation, they should take the progressive route and spread that cash around and show students that no one at UBC is immune to the effects of the recession.

NO: High salaries unfair, but that’s life

Wouldn’t it be nice if heartless bureaucratic university administrators gave back some of their money for the student good? True, if Stephen Toope or Brian Sullivan or any other well-compensated figure at UBC wants to make a public show of donating back a portion of their salary to the school, it would be very nice. But making an issue about this is silly. They didn’t choose what their salary would be, the Board of Directors did. And they pay him well for a variety of reasons.

Yes, Stephen Toope makes more than almost any other public employee in BC. He is also in charge of the organization most responsible for BC’s long-term economic success. If UBC didn’t exist, SFU would be our biggest university. So yeah, his job is sort of absolutely essential. It’s not unfair to adjust his salary accordingly.

Furthermore, Toope’s salary isn’t all that out of whack with what other presidents make. Toope’s salary is right in the same cluster as presidents from Alberta, Calgary, McGill, Toronto and McMaster. Now it’s fair to argue that all university presidents are paid too much. However, it is what it is and it’s not changing anytime soon. If UBC is going to keep up with the Joneses, these salaries are needed.

UBC may be struggling to balance its budget, but so is every other university out there. The University of Alberta is dealing with a $60 million shortfall this year that will probably lead to large tuition increases, and its president, Indira Samarasekera, is the highest paid university president in Canada.

You can believe that our president is paid fairly without being a neo-liberal, international capitalist, pig-dog, bus loop-loving stooge. It’s a reasonable position to take. Hysterically demanding his income be slashed, on the other hand, might not be.

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