By Laura M. Conniff
During the past several weeks the contract between the Board of Regents as the governing body of
Specifically, I want to fully explain the process we underwent to develop the contract with President Martin after we came to the unanimous agreement we should do everything in our power to keep him at NMSU for an extended period.
January was the half-way point in his five-year contract. At that time, Regent Bob Gallagher was asked to negotiate a renewed contract with the president. It was apparent that the board needed to think outside of the box in this effort. Regent Gallagher traveled and met with donors to discuss the idea of using private money to augment the university’s ability to make an offer to the president.
That was not a completely new idea. The Chronicle of Higher Education has reported that one-third of public universities already use both private and public funds in developing compensation plans for their presidents. Nor was it a new idea at
Regent Gallagher was successful in securing restricted financial contributions to the NMSU Foundation from donors who have supported NMSU on many occasions. We are extremely grateful that donors are willing and able to provide much needed financial gifts to the Foundation to allow us to enhance the university. No strings were attached except to say that the Regents would decide the best use of the funds to retain the president. There was no conversation with the donors about the specifics of the president’s contract.
We as the governing board at NMSU came up with the draft of the agreement that led to the new contract. During the Regents’ meeting in May, this was thoroughly discussed and released to the public. The Regents decided that a housing allowance and a deferred payment were the best ways to go. At no time did the donors try to influence the contract.
We trust this clarifies any misunderstandings, misperceptions or misreporting of the news concerning the use of private funds for the president’s compensation. If we are to retain talented individuals – not only the president but also those who serve NMSU in endowed chairs and professorships – we cannot do it with public dollars alone. This is an issue not only in our state but across the country. We are lucky in
To reiterate: President Martin reports to the Regents and they made the decisions regarding his compensation package and the use of private funds.
Conniff chairs the NMSU Board of Regents.
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Note from Heath Haussamen:
This article was submitted on Aug. 24, but I delayed publication. I told Regent Bob Gallagher that, as long as it was factual, I would publish it as submitted, without editing, which I have done. However, the statement in this column about the NMSU Foundation helping compensate presidents for more than 20 years would be new to the public, and I wanted details before I published it.
Gallagher had told me before this column was submitted that past presidents had received vehicles and cell phones courtesy of the foundation and said he believed former President Jay Gogue received a deferred compensation plan.
I wanted to be sure, so I requested the information from the university.
The official answer from the university is that presidents have received a vehicle from the foundation for more than 20 years. Martin’s contract states that the vehicle is to be used primarily for university purposes. The foundation pays the cost of the vehicle and insurance. The university pays for maintenance and gas. Martin has to report the personal use of the vehicle as taxable compensation, and therein lies the contribution, for the last 20 years, to university presidents’ compensation from the foundation.
The foundation, according to NMSU, has not provided cell phones to presidents, and did not provide money for a deferred compensation payment for Gogue. The only compensation the foundation has provided presidents in the past, before the recent addition of the deferred compensation and housing allowance for Martin, was a vehicle.
I felt it would be appropriate to explain this for two reasons: This column marked the first time the statement about the foundation’s previous contributions had been made publicly; in addition, statements by Gallagher had led some, including some lawmakers, to believe something that was not factual.