By SUSAN JONES
Traditionally, the Board of Trustees Compensation Committee has met in December to consider the salaries of Pitt’s senior leadership for the upcoming fiscal year.
This year, as we all know, is anything but traditional.
This December, the Compensation Committee has no new business to take up, according to a statement from Pitt, due to the University-wide salary freeze, which was part of the budget approved in July by Pitt’s Board of Trustees executive committee
In April, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher and members of his senior leadership team announced they would commit a portion of their 2020-21 salaries toward the general scholarship fund, which provides tuition assistance to Pitt students.
Gallagher is donating 20 percent of his salary, which would be $133,947 of his base salary of $669,738 — the amount set by the Compensation Committee in December 2019.
The University’s senior vice chancellors — including SVC for Health Sciences Anantha Shekhar who didn’t start at Pitt until July — agreed to donate 10 percent of their salaries.
The 2020-21 budget also has no tuition hikes, a 78 percent reduction in capital spending and a permanent budget cut of 3.7 percent across the board on average, along with a one-time cut of 5 percent.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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