EAST LANSING – MSU trustees voted Sunday night in a special meeting to nearly double President Kevin Guskiewicz’s salary, in apparent reaction to his frustration with board members.
The resolution increases Guskiewicz’s salary to $2 million annually, up from $1,029,210, and increases his deferred compensation annually to $250,000 from $200,000 annually.
Board Chairperson Brianna Scott, D-Muskegon, defended the late evening Sunday meeting, in which the board made wide-ranging changes that some trustees say are designed to limit dissent from board members and give Guskiewicz the new contract that would now run through 2031, rather than 2029.
Guskiewicz was unaware of the move, according to Trustee Sandy Pierce, D-Northville, and had not yet signed a new contract. Six of the eight trustees supported the proposal.
Scott told trustees they were all aware that “our president is frustrated,” and noted she believed all the trustees wanted to “foster an environment where he can be successful.”
Guskiewicz has not commented publicly on his concerns, although he took the job in late 2023 for $975,000 a year after former President Samuel Stanley Jr. resigned. Stanley said he had lost confidence in the Board of Trustees after leading MSU from 2019 to 2022.
Pierce went further, saying “We have a frustrated administration.” She added that Guskiewicz is being “aggressively pursued, and we don’t want to lose him.”
Scott echoed Pierce’s statements, add that Guskiewicz has “been internalizing all of this for months” which led to “the knots in his stomach and his health.”
“I guess the joy of being the chair (of the board) is part of my responsibility … is to kind of be that person on call for the president, to have the conversations with him concerning his concerns, and I have got to say I 100% agree with everything that Trustee Pierce said when she said he was frustrated,” Scott said. “I think right now, we’re kind of sugarcoating how frustrated Kevin Guskiewicz has been and what has been taking place behind closed doors. I 100% believe that if we do not do what we are doing today, we are at risk of losing him.”
Pierce said Guskiewicz had not requested a change in his compensation, an extension of his contract or for the changes to the board’s own governance rules. The raise was based on his “exemplary performance” during his time at MSU and the most recent comparison by MSU officials of other university president compensation. She added that Guskiewicz was unaware of the proposed contract changes.
She said once an agreement is reached an agreement with Guskiewicz, they would seek “sources outside the general fund” to cover the difference in compensation of more than $1 million a year. She said she and Scott would finalize the terms of the employment with Guskiewicz, “in consultation with the full board.”
Trustee Mike Balow, R-Plymouth, questioned whether the increase could impact the general fund if outside sources couldn’t be found. Pierce said she would bring the contract back to the board if she was unsuccessful in obtaining the money.
Balow voted no on the contract change, noting he spoke with Guskiewicz recently but hadn’t heard some of the same concerns other trustees were raising. He said he hoped Guskiewicz stays at MSU, but that he could not support the raise based on the information he had.
“I wish we had better information,” he said, adding that if the proposal “had been handled better by our (board) leadership,” he may have voted in support.
Trustee Rema Vassar, D-Detroit, said she spoke earlier Sunday with Guskiewicz, who told her he wanted to stay at MSU and didn’t mention leaving the university. And she said the board was going against the advice of General Counsel Brian Quinn in how it handled the new contract.
“This vote is not transparent. It’s not procedurally sound,” Vassar said. ”It was not preceded by a conversation with the employee whose contract is being modified, and it’s being taken on the same day as a vote to restrict the speech of the trustees most likely to ask why.”
Rebecca Bahar-Cook, D-East Lansing, said she believed if the board didn’t vote to approve the contract Sunday night, the university was at-risk of losing Guskiewicz.
The motion eventually passed with a 6-1-1 vote, with Balow voting no, and Vassar abstaining.
Guskiewicz has had regular raises
Although he was hired in late 2023, Guskiewicz began his tenure at MSU in March of 2024 after serving as chancellor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
In the fall of 2024, Guskiewicz received a 4% raise.
Guskiewicz is the fifth person to lead the university since Lou Anna Simon resigned in January 2018 hours after former MSU doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced in Ingham County amid a nationwide sexual assault scandal. Since Simon resigned, former Michigan governor John Engler, Satish Udpa, Stanley and Teresa Woodruff have led the school.
In addition to his salary, Guskiewicz in his original contract received $150,000 a year in deferred compensation, as well as the use of of the presidential residence, Cowles House, membership in the University Club and the Lansing Country Club, a vehicle and driver from the police department and a leased vehicle for business and personal use.
Last year, the board gave Guskiewicz a 1.5% raise to $1,029,210 a year and bumped his annual deferred compensation to $200,000 annually as the university moved to cut 9% of its general fund budget over two years amid financial difficulties.
New salary would put Guskiewicz among highest paid in Michigan
The raises moves Guskiewicz toward the upper teir of Michigan public university presidents.
The University of Michigan hired Syracuse University President Kent Syverud, 69, as its 16th president of the University of Michigan on Monday, Jan. 12, at a salary of $2 million annually. However, Syverud was diagnosed with brain cancer and won’t be taking the post.
Wayne State University President Kimberly Espy formally resigned in September but was paid an annual salary of $690,000 with $177,000 in deferred compensation and to provide Espy with a 2-to-1 match for her own contributions to a retirement plan.
The university has a nearly $3.7 billion budget, including a $1.7 billion general fund budget.
Contact Karly Graham at kgraham@lsj.com. Follow her on X at @KarlyGrahamJrn.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU board votes to nearly double President Kevin Guskiewicz’s salary
Reporting by Karly Graham, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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