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Brown, Hardin respond differently Sunday, Jul 13, 2008 By David J. Sanders That Arkansas Tech University, through the university's Foundation Board, is providing a deferred compensation plan to its president, Robert Brown, might not be too surprising in light of recent revelations regarding emoluments given to Lu Hardin, president of the University of Central Arkansas. Given Hardin's less-than-forthcoming response to initial press inquires, one would not expect sister state universities to make the same mistake. I first learned of Brown's package from an undated and unsigned memo to private donors appearing on ATU Foundation letterhead emblazoned with the words "Recommendation from the Board of Trustees." The memo was a solicitation for the expressed purpose of funding a deferred compensation plan for Brown which was said to be in the form of an unvested retirement benefit. The memo said the retirement fund would be handled through the foundation and, according to outside legal counsel, was a legal arrangement. When I asked Susie Nicholson, assistant to the president for university relations, if Brown was provided a deferred compensation package, she confirmed most of what I knew by responding that Brown did not have deferred compensation package as part of his contract with the university and that his "salary and fringe benefits are those prescribed by state law." She added that "in 2006, the Foundation independently established a deferred compensation plan for Dr. Brown's benefit in retirement." But, when I asked to see a copy of Brown's deferred compensation plan Wednesday afternoon, Nicholson politely informed me that the university's attorney, Thomas Pennington, said that wouldn't be possible since the plan was handled by the Foundation and therefore was not subject to the state Freedom of Information Act. I expressed my disagreement with Pennington's interpretation of the law. Nicholson, who was out of town, offered to get back to me. We text messaged each other several times, and then around 9 p.m., I received a phone call from Brown, who, understandably, sounded uncomfortable discussing the matter from home. He went to great pains to communicate his lack of knowledge about the matter, saying the extent of his knowledge was limited to being assured by legal counsel that the fund wasn't "his," but, in fact, belonged to the Foundation Board. When it was set up, he said, he requested that for tax purposes the fund be set up in such a way that he wouldn't receive any additional income and signed documents making that so. Brown insisted that he didn't know his package's dollar worth but would try to find out. When asked if he agreed with his counsel's assertion that its details weren't subject to the FOI, he countered that he was "not an attorney." When I asked him to provide me a copy of the plan, emphasizing that the public had a right to know, he insisted again that he'd "try to get it" for me, but that it might not be possible since, as he had stated, it wasn't his property. I wasn't hopeful. However, early Thursday I received a phone call from Brown, who offered to drive to Little Rock to meet with me to go over it. I asked if we could discuss it over the phone. He obliged and said he'd send a copy to me. The package, as described by Brown and his vice president for development, is capped at $250,000 and is funded through private donations to something called the "Trustees' Fund," which also serves as a funding mechanism for other university projects. The agreement, which isn't guaranteed, sets out that the Foundation Board would authorize a $50,000 annual contribution to an account for Brown, starting in 2007 and continuing until 2011, and is only paid out upon Brown's retirement in 2012, but only if the money is raised. Brown, who has been at Tech since 1993, said he was apprehensive about this package and said that he had stopped an effort to provide a similar benefit 10 years ago. There is a debate to be had over deferred compensation packages for university presidents. Other presidents who have similar packages would do well to follow Brown's lead by being responsive and transparent. ------- David J. Sanders writes twice weekly for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock and is the host of the Arkansas Education Television Network's "Unconventional Wisdom." His e-mail address is DavidJSanders@aol.com. |
