Who knew being a professor could be so lucrative? Former Harvard University President Claudine Gay, who resigned after antisemitism and plagiarism scandals which occurred under her watch, will return to the faculty and haul in close to $900,000 a year in salary.
Advertisement But guess who's got it even better? Her replacement, interim president Dr. Alan M. Garber, the school's provost.
He made more in 2022 - $936,000 more - serving as a board member for two major drug companies, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and California-based Exelixis Inc. Why would it be problematic to have your provost or university president serving as a board member for pharmaceutical companies, you might ask.
Some are questioning these side hustles: The practice of university leaders serving on the boards of private and public for-profit companies - and earning significant compensation for it - is increasingly widespread. But experts on university governance and critics say it can raise a host of conflicts of interest, especially in health care industries where academia and industry are often deeply enmeshed.
Advertisement Carolyn Becker, a retired associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who wants such gigs to be banned, said: To put someone in as president, even in the interim, who has some major conflicts of interest that take him away from his all-encompassing role - they need his full attention focused on the job at hand.
Garber's board member gigs have earned him more than $6.6 million, according to the Boston Globe; plus, he's allowed to expense things like travel and lodging.
Harvard is not alone in this practice; about a third of elite university presidents sit on corporate boards and rake in around $250,000 to $275,000 a year.
No comments:
Post a Comment