UC's paid leaves called 'betrayal' - Regents' Edict Ignored

SFGate.com ^ | 12/22/05 | Todd Wallack, Tanya Schevitz

[NormsRevenge]

More than a decade after promising to end the practice, the University of California has given several top administrators lengthy paid leaves when they stepped down.

In the past 13 months alone, at least three senior managers have received paid furloughs at their executive salaries before returning to teaching.

Former UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl received a 13 1/2-month leave at $315,600 a year. Former Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Directory Charles Shank is finishing a yearlong leave, during which he has earned $336,000. And Wednesday, UC said former Provost M.R.C. Greenwood had begun a 15-month leave with a $301,840 annual salary.

UC granted the leaves despite a policy approved by the university's governing Board of Regents in 1994 limiting paid administrative leaves for senior managers to a maximum of three months. The regents reaffirmed the limit in September.

"It's a betrayal,'' said former state Sen. Quentin Kopp, who helped push UC to declare an end to the paid leaves in 1994. "You can't depend on the probity of university leaders."

The charge is the latest in a string of accusations that UC hid perks and pay from the public and lawmakers. Both the state Assembly and Senate have scheduled hearings in the wake of stories in The Chronicle reporting that UC quietly paid hundreds of millions of dollars to employees in bonuses, relocation allowances, administrative stipends and other compensation.

The revelations come at a time when the university has said budget constraints have forced it to boost student fees, cut services, increase class sizes and freeze pay for thousands of lower-paid workers.