by James V. Geluso and April Kyle
Daily Cougar StaffGiving large "golden parachutes" to administrators forced to resign is necessary to protect UH from lawsuits, Board of Regents Chairwoman Beth Morian told a Texas House subcommittee Tuesday.
"You have to be careful how removal is done," she said, "or you'll end up in court."
Morian joined Chancellor Bill Hobby and Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance Linda Bright to answer questions for a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. The subcommittee is holding a series of hearings on golden parachutes and severance packages.
"It isn't as easy as it looks to move administrators," Morian said. "It's in the best interest of the institution for a person to leave if they can't get along with the board. (But) it's not easy to remove people, even with cause."
Speaking of the mass resignations last summer, in which the chancellor, two presidents and several vice presidents resigned, Rep. Garnet Coleman, who represents the district in which UH is located, said he was very concerned about the way UH looks in its situation.
"I hope that it never again happens like this," Morian said. "(The situation has) given us a unique opportunity and made us introspective of what we are doing and how we are doing it."
Hobby said, "In my personal opinion, what the regents did was excessive."
Rep. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, who chaired the committee, called attention to the terms of former Chancellor Alex Schilt's eight-year contract. There are no provisions for a change in terms, he said, and it "looks like a lifetime deal."
Ogden also expressed concern that Schilt, who has no professorial teaching experience, has tenure, which made it even harder for him to be fired.
Morian said that a policy will be developed to deal with that situation in the future. She said such a policy would also include a provision that administrators returning to the faculty would receive salaries "commensurate with those of the department they are going into." Schilt, former President James Pickering and former Provost Henry Trueba will all be receiving their administrative salaries, which are much higher than those of their colleagues, when they move into their teaching positions at the end of their leaves of absence.
Coleman expressed skepticism that those leaves, which are fully paid at administrative levels, are good uses of money. The leaves are intended to let the administrators prepare for their return to the classroom. "I wish somebody would pay me to go off and get my head together," Coleman said.
Rep. Karyne Conley, D-San Antonio, asked whether a slot is created within faculty for administrators returning. Hobby replied that a slot is created.
"That might knock some young, aspiring person out of their opportunity to teach," Conley observed.
Conley said it sounded like UH needs assistance to be able to move people and asked if there was any way the Legislature could assist the school.
"Everyone is lawsuit-happy," Morian replied. "It's difficult to remove people. That's a difficult question."
Hobby added, "Federal law makes it difficult to fire anybody, particularly women and African-Americans."
Conley shot back that those laws are in place to protect women and African-Americans because they are usually the last hired and first fired.
Ogden suggested that the Board of Regents dispense with eight-year contracts, paid leaves of absence and giving tenure merely for high salaries. "We can make progress in this area and solve fairness issues," he said.
Rep. Patricia Gray, D-Galveston, asked whether there are different compensation issues in an urban environment than would be faced at Texas' other schools. Hobby and Morian both replied that there is no real difference.
"Most people would rather live in Houston than College Station anyway," Hobby said.