University of Minnesota (UMN) regents approved an approximate $500,000 salary for UMN’s newest Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel Croson on Dec. 12 with an 8-4 vote.
Croson, current dean of Michigan State University's College of Social Science and economics professor, will receive a $495,000 and an additional $20,000 for professorship. Croson will replace the retiring Provost Karen Hanson, who was employed for almost 10 years and had an annual salary of $468,000 during her tenure.
“Optically, it’s a really bad thing for us,” Regent Michael Hsu, who voted against the salary, told the Star Tribune.
Hsu said the salary comes on top of UMN’s Duluth campus experiencing budget cuts and faculty layoffs. UMN as a whole reduced administrative costs by more than $90 million for several years as a way to introduce a new budget discipline.
“You’re telling Duluth to save $5 million, and you’re paying the new provost even more money,” Hsu told the Star Tribune.
Croson was UMN President Joan Gabel’s first major hire, who conducted a nationwide search and interviewed four finalists at the Twin Cities campus, including Croson.
“The package that we have proposed for Dr. Croson is right where it should be for an institution like us,” Gabel told the Star Tribune. “But we’re not getting just right where we should be. We’re getting someone exceptional.”
UMN primarily hired Croson, despite having never been a provost, due to her efforts in devising a strategic plan for sexual abuse at Michigan State following a scandal including former physician Larry Nassar. UMN hopes to develop its own similar plan.
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