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UD parses the latest story from the indispensable Todd Wallack…

… of the Boston Globe.

Wallack has way-doggedly gone after greed in academia and environs. When greedy academia and environs snarls back at Wallack with lawyers and public relations, Wallack just keeps going, publishing story after story until the truth is accepted by everyone except those whose livelihood depends on continuing to lie for greedy a&e.

And speaking of greed: Understanding postmodern American levels of greed is key to understanding Wallack’s latest story, about the ex-president of Brandeis University.

People are trying to explain the downfall of Virginia’s governor in terms of the insane disparity between the wealth of his fundraisers (with whom he and his wife hobnobbed) and the wealth of the guv and the missus. These two had to destroy their lives and make Virginia a laughingstock because of their need to keep up not with the Joneses but with people at the level of Jamie Dimon.

And speaking of Dimon, you cannot understand his just-announced 74% raise unless you understand that he operates within the same painful income-inequality-in-America reality. The gap between Bob McDonnell and other millionaires was as unconscionable as the gap between Jamie Dimon and other billionaires. One of these two was able to find justice legally; the other seems to have been driven to a life of crime.

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Ainsi, once you grasp the levels of greed-jockeying we are now, Year 2014, talking about, little in the story of sadly undercompensated Jehuda Reinharz will surprise you.

… Reinharz earned more than $600,000 in 2011 to serve as president emeritus, a part-time advisory role, in addition to receiving $800,000 that year in his new job for a Cleveland philanthropy.

But when you throw everything else in

… Reinharz is expected to collect roughly $8 million from Brandeis after stepping down as president…

Pretty much everyone at the school except the trustees is outraged. Because

… the school has long claimed social justice as one of its core values. Reinharz’s pay also came at a time of rising tuition and as the university was facing steep budget cuts that forced it to slash employee benefits, lay off staff members, and even explore the idea of shutting down a beloved campus museum.

In response to the outrage, Brandeis has graciously decided to

… include a faculty representative on the committee that sets executive pay …

which means that right now they’re racing desperately around the business school looking for the richest b-school professor on the faculty. Only a professor also running a hedge fund can understand executive compensation at these levels.

Margaret Soltan, January 24, 2014 3:22PM
Posted in: trustees trashing the place

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2 Responses to “UD parses the latest story from the indispensable Todd Wallack…”

  1. Alan Allport Says:

    Oh UD, UD, how little you understand. If Jamie Dimon doesn’t get his $20 million, how are all those subsistence farmers in Africa going to be motivated to bother getting up in the morning? Just ask Kevin O’Leary.

  2. Margaret Soltan Says:

    Alan: You’re quite right to remind me – I forgot how it works…

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