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Hardin to reimburse $300k bonus Thursday, Jul 17, 2008 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Lu Hardin, the president of the University of Central Arkansas, said Wednesday he will personally reimburse the school for a $300,000 bonus the UCA Board of Trustees decided in private to give him. The board did not specifically mention the bonus publicly after approving it in an executive session in May. Hardin said later he received no raise but also did not mention the bonus. "I was simply wrong," Hardin said Wednesday. "There are absolutely no excuses." The university board three years ago publicly approved an incentive to pay Hardin $300,000 if he stayed at UCA for five years. The decision in May was to accelerate the payment by two years. The university said in a release Wednesday Hardin would receive the deferred compensation only if private funds are used to cover the full amount and only after university faculty receive salary increases. Hardin initially said the bonus came from private funds. Officials later acknowledged the money actually was from a fund comprised of excess profits from operations such as food vendors and the campus bookstore. UCA faculty have not received a raise this year. Hardin said Wednesday his decision to refund the money was influenced by meetings with faculty representatives, including UCA Faculty Senate president Kurt Boneicki. Boneicki, an associate professor of psychology, welcomed Hardin's decision to return the money. "It's the right move on his part," Boneicki said. "I'm happy with his efforts here to do the right thing and make good with faculty, students as well as staff at the university." He said he first met with Hardin on the issue around the end of June, before the bonus payment became public. "I let him know at that time that I thought the best thing for him to do would be to return the money. He didn't make a commitment at that time," Boneicki said. "I certainly have been in conversations with university officials since that time. I've conveyed he should return the money and several weeks later he has committed to doing so. "We do have a good relationship with the president, we're able to communicate with him. He has listened and he's doing the right thing." The remaining issue, Boneicki said, is ensuring the board recognizes its mistake in keeping the bonus secret. He said he would address the board at its July 25 meeting. UCA board chairman Randy Sims said Wednesday university trustees are sensitive to the faculty's concerns. "I believe this will be a positive move and an appropriate response to many of the concerns they raised," Sims said. Last week, he asked Attorney General Dustin McDaniel for an opinion on whether the fund the board used for Hardin's bonus should be considered public or private money and whether a bonus from that fund could violate a state statute limiting the pay of university employees. Under state law, an institution of higher education may not pay an employee more than the salary level set by the state Legislature, plus 25 percent. Hardin's salary is set by the Legislature at $161,728. He receives the allowed 125 percent of that amount, or $202,160, plus $51,614 in private funds for a total of $253,744 Hardin said Wednesday he initially planned to wait for a decision on the legality question before deciding whether to return the money, but ultimately could not justify the secrecy surrounding the bonus. "Regardless of whether (the fund) had any private nature at all as a result of it being private profits is moot," he said. "I know the (state Freedom on Information) law well and should have known that an exemption (to public disclosure) didn't exist." |
